With the Bharatiya Janata Party emerges as dominant political force In the recently held elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, a large section of the public believed that the party could install its ‘first’ mayor in Mumbai. Unbeknownst to them, almost four decades ago, in a very different political landscape marked by post-Emergency alliances, the city had already seen a BJP mayor in the figure of Dr Prabhakar Sanjiv Pai, who took office barely three years after the party was formally founded in 1980.
The circumstances that allowed a BJP mayor in Bombay they were shaped by the political turmoil that followed the imposition of the Emergency in 1975 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. During this period, the Janata Party was formed in 1977 as a broad anti-Congress coalition. One of its key constituencies was the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the ideological and organizational predecessor of the BJP. The Jana Sangh leaders merged into the Janata Party instead of forming a separate party.
In 1978, at the height of the Janata Party’s popularity, elections were held to the Bombay Municipal Corporation. In the previous elections in 1973, the civic body had been dominated by the Congress with 45 seats and the Shiv Sena with 39. The 1978 verdict dramatically altered this balance.
The Janata Party won 83 of the 140 seats, relegating the Congress and the Shiv Sena to 25 and 21 seats respectively. This unprecedented mandate marked the beginning of a phase in which socialist leaders held the position of mayor. Following the formal formation of the BJP in 1980, power-sharing agreements with the Janata Party opened the door for BJP representation in the civic leadership.
In 1982, Dr. Pai, then BJP leader in the Corporation, was elected the 53rd mayor of Mumbai, a position he held from 1982 to 1983, becoming the first BJP mayor in the city.
Who was Dr. Prabhakar Sanjiv Pai?
Born on June 9, 1936 in the village of Barkur in Karnataka, Pai moved to Mumbai at the age of 14. After completing his studies in Ayurveda and earning his doctorate, he began practicing medicine in a small clinic in the Bandra West shopping center on Hill Road.
Pai joined the Public Health Department of the Greater Bombay Municipal Corporation, where he served for 13 years until 1968. That year marked the beginning of his long municipal career when he was elected councilor for Ward No 100 TPS III Pali Hill Bandra. He represented the constituency continuously from 1968 to 1984.
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Initially associated with the Congress, Pai held several key municipal positions. He was also Congress president from Bandra district. Pai formally joined the BJP since its inception in 1980.
Mayor and beyond
As mayor, Pai represented Mumbai at various international forums, including conferences in Japan, the USSR, Europe and Southeast Asia, and was elected vice-president of the World Congress of Local Governments in Yokohama.
One of his lasting legacies was the Zhunka Bhakar Trust, a scheme aimed at providing subsidized food to the urban poor. Decades later, the Shiv Sena BJP government adopted a similar idea after coming to power in 1995, offering zunka bhakar, a traditional Maharashtrian meal of jowar bhakri and chickpea flour curry, at a highly subsidized price of Rs 1 per plate to daily wage workers, migrants and unemployed youth.
Get out of politics
While Pai completed his term as mayor, his associates say he later fell victim to internal rivalries within the BJP.
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“With the strength that the party was gaining in the late 1980s, internal rivalries arose within the party for dominance. Dr Pai, with his gentlemanly demeanor, seemed to have not been accustomed to this style of functioning and gradually withdrew from active politics,” said a former Janata Party associate who did not wish to be named.
Veterans also suggest that Pai received threats from internal party rivals to dissuade him from attending party meetings.
Life after politics
After stepping away from active politics, Pai remained socially engaged. He set up the Janata Bandra East Education Society, which runs the Purushottam High School and educates thousands of students, and the Janata Seva Sangh, a public charitable trust that continues his vision of medical aid education, food seva and cultural programmes.
“Despite his imposing stature, he was a loving human being who always imbibed the people around him, including us, to strive to positively impact the lives of those who are less fortunate,” said his daughter Dr Kavita Pai Vas, who now heads the Janata Seva Sangh.
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Dr. Pai passed away in 2020 at the age of 84. In October 2025, his daughter Dr. Kavita Pai Vas wrote to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Devendra Fadnavis requesting that a road in Bandra be named after him. The State has not yet made a decision on the matter.