Examining slow and spectacular forms of violence through the politics of redevelopment in Kamathipura

Abstract

This paper analyses the contested nature of the redevelopment of historic red-light neighbourhoods and their impact on social–moral–economic relations, using the case study of Kamathipura in Mumbai, India. Specifically, this article highlights the contested nature of the attempted redevelopment of a historic, inner-city ‘red light’ neighbourhood showcasing two kinds of interconnected violence—slow (such as deterioration of infrastructure and dilapidated neighbourhoods due to state neglect) and spectacular (such as massive and planned urban restructurings and spatial transformations)—both founded on a moral argument for sanitising and commodifying space. While redevelopment plans remain largely on paper, the speculation seizes the neighbourhood and restructures social–moral–economic relations causing great harm to vulnerable groups, while leaving several others in a debilitating limbo. We argue that the moral stigma attached to historically marginalised red-light neighbourhoods creates a paradoxical situation where it both prevents sustained municipal intervention and catalyses large-scale redevelopment proposals that mask the insidious violence of neglect by the state. We develop this argument through an in-depth field study drawing from interviews, focus group discussions and life histories conducted between 2014 and 2019 with a range of groups working and living in Kamathipura, one of Asia’s largest and oldest red-light areas located in the island city of Mumbai. This paper traces the complex interlinkages between different forms of violence(s) and the moral regimes that enable and facilitate them through contested claims to the neighbourhood and its uncertain future.

Keywords:

• slow violence
• redevelopment
• moral regime
• red-light area
• managed neglect
• contestation

Acknowledgements

We thank our research team comprising Nisha Kundar, Aradhana Paralikar, Devashree Ragde, Apurva Gandhi and Sanjay Kadam. We are also grateful to the community members and political actors who shared their insights and wisdom to help enrich our understanding of Kamathipura as a historically produced closely linked neighbourhood, and a space of work and home to many.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The colonial name of Bombay was changed to Mumbai in 1995 when the regional political party, Shiv Sena came to power, evoking Maratha pride.

2 Renamed Jehangir Boman Behram Road.

3 Dance bars were banned in Maharashtra in 2005 and reportedly put more than 75,000 dancers out of work and pushed many to prostitution (Scroll 2019).

4 With the formation of the Bombay Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board in 1971, a repair cess was levied on the old, dilapidated, privately owned and tenanted buildings in the Island city that were built before Independence. The Board was responsible for repairs and reconstruction of the cessed structures that were regulated by the RCA. This Act was merged with the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act (MHADA) 1976 in December 1977. It thus absolved private landlords of their responsibility to carry out repairs in rent-controlled buildings in the Island city.

5 In 2016, MHADA as a state level institution was under the control of the ruling party, while BMC was ruled by the opposition. The politics that ensued delayed many infrastructure projects.

6 It is currently INR 100 crores which MLA Amin Patel has been advocating to be increased to INR 200 crores to address the scale of the problem.

7 It is up to INR 3000 per sq. m.

8 Only 8 percent of all cessed structures have undergone reconstruction according to a report tabled by the Mumbai Transformation Support Unit.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been funded by International Development Research Centre, Canada (2013–2016).

Notes on contributors

Ratoola Kundu

Ratoola Kundu is Assistant Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Email: [email protected]

Shivani Satija

Shivani Satija is Editor of the Gender & Development Journal. Email: [email protected]