‘Others see potholes, I see their whole state is a hole’: Raj Thackeray after meeting Fadnavis on Mumbai traffic

He added that Mumbai is drowning under unauthorised redevelopment, rising car numbers, and garbage spilling onto the streets, leaving the city in “complete mess.”

A day after the “Thackeray brand” failed to create ripples in the BEST Credit Society elections, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at his official Varsha bungalow in Mumbai. The meeting, which stirred political speculation, was later clarified by Thackeray as being purely about civic issues, not politics.

Traffic crisis at the centre of talks

Thackeray said Mumbai’s traffic chaos has become unbearable, especially with Ganesh Chaturthi around the corner. Heavy rainfall earlier this week only exposed the city’s fragile infrastructure.

“The day before yesterday, 400 inches of rain fell. After that, there was a traffic jam. The roads were narrowed. There is no discipline in traffic. People are parking cars everywhere. No work has been done on this; we are stuck with pigeons and elephants,” Thackeray remarked sharply.

He added that Mumbai is drowning under unauthorised redevelopment, rising car numbers, and garbage spilling onto the streets, leaving the city in “complete mess.”

Thackeray’s pitch for discipline and planning

The MNS chief called for a structural fix: creation of underground parking lots beneath open grounds to ease congestion, clear marking of pavements for parking and no-parking, and stricter enforcement to discipline vehicle owners.

“Generally, people are afraid of high fines and jail. That’s why drunk driving has stopped. Some things should be disciplined. No parking boards are not enough; people don’t follow them. There are simpler solutions, and I suggested them to the CM and police officials,” he said.

Thackeray, who has long championed town planning and aesthetics, recalled his 2014 documentary on urban issues and suggested that traffic is now a measure of a country’s future. “There’s a good sentence by a Scottish writer—‘Tell me what songs your children sing, and I will tell you the future of your country.’ I want to change that. Show me the traffic situation in your country, and I will tell you its future,” he quipped.

Political backdrop and timing

The timing of Thackeray’s meeting with Fadnavis has raised eyebrows. Just a day earlier, his joint panel with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) faced a humiliating defeat in the BEST Employees’ Co-operative Credit Society polls, failing to win a single seat.

Fadnavis had dismissed the polls as being politicised around the “Thackeray brand.” With speculation rife over a possible Sena (UBT)-MNS alliance in upcoming civic elections, the meeting with the Chief Minister sparked chatter in state politics.

However, Thackeray downplayed any political angle. “I met the Chief Minister once or twice in the last few months. We were only discussing civic issues, town planning, and traffic,” he insisted.

Opposition reaction

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar also sought to douse speculation, calling the meeting routine. “Many leaders meet the chief minister, irrespective of whether they are in power or not. Maintaining communication is part of this state’s tradition. There is no need to give a political angle,” he said in Wardha.

Raj Thackeray’s fiery one-liners may have added political flavour to what he insists was a civic meeting, but his larger warning remains pointed: Mumbai’s choking roads and chaotic urban planning are not just traffic nightmares, they are a window into the state’s future.