A political party in Mumbai best known for its anti-immigrant rhetoric has decided to launch its own chain of fast food stands, but with an ideological flavour that could stick in some throats.
Shiv Sena already has a powerful, dichotomous influence over India's financial capital: it runs the city through its control of the municipal authority, and its followers habitually paralyse parts of the city with rowdy protests.
Now, just as its supremacy is threatened by the rising prominence of an offshoot party, it wants to extend its influence over arguably the most popular snack in a city that seems to sustain itself on its street food - namely vada pav.
"We're making a chain like McDonald's," said Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena member of parliament, describing a move only a little less unexpected of an Indian political party than if the U.S. Republican Party was to set up a hot dog franchise.
The snack may seem innocuous: a spiced potato ball fried in batter -- the vada -- which arrives served in a bun, or pav.
But, with the right political seasoning, it becomes a symbol of the party's struggle against Mumbai's cosmopolitan essence.
Shiv Sena believes the city belongs to the Hindu Marathi community, less than half of all Mumbaikers, who share a language with the original fisher folk around whom this bewildering metropolis mushroomed. All others are the city's guests.
Many Parsis, Gujarati Hindus, Muslims, Jews and Christians that have played defining roles in this city since its colonial beginnings disagree. So, too, do tens of thousands of migrant Indians who squeeze into Mumbai each year to seek their fortune.
SONS OF THE SOIL
Regardless, Sanjay Gurav, the Shiv Sainik setting the scheme up, says only Marathis will be hired at Shiv vada pav stands, in keeping with the party's founding goal of protecting the interests of the Marathi men it calls "sons of the soil".
