Since Mumbai voted for its representatives to participate in the next People's House on April 29, this has to some extent realized the three-year dream of SP-BSP candidates in the northwest constituency of Mumbai. Or almost. For the two MLAs in UP, Subhash Pasi has indeed come a long way and finally came to this day.

The 60-year-old UP bhaiya Pasi claims to represent a large number of his bhaiya compatriots, as well as Muslims and Dalits in the constituency. "Of the 1.6 million voters, they account for about 800,000," Passy said.

Pasi's family came to Mumbai from UP in the early 1960s. He and his brother both grew up on the streets of Jogeshwari in the western suburbs of Mumbai. In 1989, Passy joined Congress as a local party worker, hoping to have his own way.

About ten years ago, when the politics surrounding the "sons of the land" was raging in Maharashtra, Passy saw his opportunity and began to build a voter base among the troubled "bhaiyas" in Mumbai.

Pasi was called "bhaiya" by UP wallahs, especially Muslims and Dalits who visited him, and began to organize "meet and greet" events in the form of the Bhojpuri Cultural Festival, in which well-known Bollywood figures such as Manoj Tiwari or Ravi Kishan made special appearances . In order to compete with the fanatical celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi, he launched a luxurious chhath puja celebration.

However, the cultural and religious plan was used by congressional leaders such as Sunil Dutt and later daughter Priya Dutt as part of their campaign strategy. Passy actively campaigned for them and hoped that one day he could also participate in the competition from Mumbai. "Despite working for Congress for more than 25 years, from ward, block, district to municipal level, I have never voted in Mumbai," Passy said sadly. "That's because I am a Dalit."

However, in 2007, senior leaders of Congress decided to make room for him, but not in Mumbai. "They saw me growing in popularity among people in UP in Mumbai and sent me to participate in UP parliamentary elections," Passy said. The logic is problematic, but in any case, Passy competed with the BSP candidate and lost respectfully. But by the time of the 2012 general election, Passy had withdrawn from Congress and joined the Samajwadi party. In 2012 and the 2017 parliamentary elections, he selected from the parliamentary assembly in the Council of God from the Samwudi party ticket.

Although the 2007 election was a humble beginning, it became a turning point in his political career. After returning to Mumbai after the election, Passy received a call with the number printed on his business card. A woman asked him on the phone if he had won. He said no. Then she told him that she would love to see her son who died in Mumbai Hospital. "I told her that I would book her a ticket to Mumbai, but she asked, can you send my son to me? Then I suddenly thought: What will this woman do here alone? So I Arrange for the corpse to reach her village. I went by plane."

At that moment, this seems to be a natural and humane step, but in the eyes of entrepreneurs, this idea is enduring. Soon after, he and his wife Reena Pasi established the Akshar Foundation to return the bodies of people who died in Mumbai-first by plane and then by ambulance-back to their UP village. "So far, we have returned 970 bodies," Passy said.

Passy rarely appears in the news, but is no stranger to controversy. In 2017, the Zhuhu police used FIR’s FIR charges against him and his assistants on the pretext of selling him the SRA room in Antaili for defrauding a police officer of 2.29 million rupees. Passy denied the allegations, claiming that "he was not involved."

The story of Pasi began at the end of 2013. He was earlier involved in a land transaction in Mulgaon Dongri, Andheri (East), Mumbai. At the end of 2013, the slum residents there were told to wait for an important visitor, and it turned out to be Subhash Pasi. Passy announced that the land they were standing on had been sold—and bought. "But don't worry," Subhash Pasi said. "You will be recovered and compensated."

Sheeba Nair, a resident and former political activist, recalled that Pasi introduced herself as a broker for the new owners, Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) and Kanakia Group. In the next two years, Pasi ensured that every hut or hut that hindered the Kanakia plan to construct a building under the Maharashtra Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) plan was demolished and its residents were repaired and compensated.

"But the compensation is arbitrary because not all residents live there legally," Sheeba Nair said. “People who had to demolish their huts got an apartment in the new SRA building (for families affected by the ongoing subway construction in Mumbai), but the compensation depends on who can persuade them to accept it.”

It also depends on Passy's politeness and persuasiveness. "He was always smiling, polite, and never lost his temper," Shiba recalled. Even though Nair revealed that the man who worked with the builder to evict the huts and huts was from the Samajwadi party MLA in Saidpur, Uttar Pradesh, Passy did not lose his temper.

When Sheeba wrote to Samajwadi Party Chairman Akhilesh Yadav asking why UP MLA would spend his time in the slums of Mumbai, Pasi visited her. Sheeba claimed that Pasi was as polite as ever, bribed her and said: "Kyun tang kar rahi ho. Letter baazi kar rahi ho." (Why are you writing in trouble?). "I refused the bribe, but sold my cottage apartment (which is legal) to the builder and moved out of Mumbai," Shiba said. He believed that "if it wasn't for cheating, Passy manipulated and coerced Murgandongli. Many of them left their homes without paying them a fair market price."

However, another resident, Vandana Rajbhar, thinks Pasi is benevolent. "I respect him," Wandana said. "It is because of him that we are able to recover." Vandana mentioned the work done by the Akshar Foundation to prove her view of Pasi is correct.

For Passy, ​​this work is part of a larger political strategy. "One-fifth of Mumbai's households are from UP," Passy said. It is them he wants to take care of-rickshaw drivers and peddlers from his hometown. "Every one of them knows me, and when I help them, the news will reach their village," Passy said. According to Passy, ​​it was this connection between people who worked in Mumbai but maintained close ties with the village that helped him win the UP parliamentary elections in 2012 and 2017.

But Passy's ambition has always been to fight in Mumbai, and when the current BSP-SP league allowed him to compete in the city for the 2019 People's House election, he finally achieved this goal. Competing with Gajanan Kirtikar of Shiv Sena and Sanjay Nirupam of Congress, Pasi believes that he has a fair chance given his position among those migrating from UP to Mumbai.

Of course he has a way to contact them. The Association of Builders and his transportation business made Passy rich. In his affidavit of opinion polls, he declared assets worth 460 million rupees. But in his campaign, he emphasized that he is just like them, that he is their child, a man who has escaped poverty.

"The boy who was not allowed to become a legal person is now running for a councillor," he told me triumphantly. What he offered voters were free gifts in the form of laptops, solving traffic problems, and other general promises, such as introducing housing plans here and pension plans there.

However, he knows very well what will happen to his UP seat if he becomes a Mumbai MP: "My son will take over."

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