Skip to main content

Mumbai jetty project: Is Colaba residential associations' outrage manufactured?

By Gajanan Khergamker 
When the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) filed an affidavit before the Bombay High Court defending its long-planned public jetty project, it did more than just respond to a writ petition by a Colaba Residents Association. It exposed, albeit inadvertently, a far more corrosive phenomenon festering beneath the surface of urban civil life across India—a phenomenon where residential associations, many unregistered and some self-professed custodians of ‘public sentiment,’ conspire to stall governance under the veil of representation.
What makes this trend especially insidious today is not just the legal overreach, but the machinery of perception management that backs it. In close consultation with politically aligned local players camouflaged as independent media, such associations engineer narratives of public outrage and dissent where none truly exist. News reports—with little or no editorial scrutiny—are churned out to create the illusion of opposition, often before the facts have even surfaced.
It doesn't stop there. In a strategic move that reveals how deeply manufactured dissent has burrowed into our civic fabric, social media ‘influencers’ with surging paid followers are roped in to echo and amplify the narrative, hashtag by hashtag, until the deception snowballs into a presumed reality.
What began as a civic cooperative—meant to manage building maintenance and ensure waste segregation—now positions itself as a voice of public conscience, challenging executive action. From matters of road widening and Metro development to waterfront security and public transport terminals, residential associations routinely oppose infrastructure projects by invoking heritage, environment, or “sentiments.”
But let’s call this out for what it is: Not every collective with a seal and a bank account can act as an alternate government.
India’s legal framework grants no policy-making authority to housing collectives. Whether registered under the law, these bodies are private entities tasked with internal welfare—not arbiters of public policy. They can’t veto State projects. They can’t override elected governments. And they certainly can’t invoke democracy as a shield while silencing the larger public interest with localised elitism.
What amplifies their extra-legal assertions is the fusion of influence and optics. Through backdoor alliances with sympathetic politicos—often out of favour or seeking local relevance—associations engineer public sentiment through carefully orchestrated “news” reports in fringe publications, editorials penned by interested parties, and on-ground resistance magnified by click-hungry social media echo chambers.
Today, perceived protest is more lucrative than principled protest. With the right media partner, a WhatsApp forward, a tweetstorm, and a micro-influencer in tow, an association can pose as a crusader against “State apathy,” even when the State is acting in the collective good.
The line between news and narrative has blurred. Where once “residents’ dissent” was a matter of fact, today it is a well-produced artefact, staged, lit, and shared across platforms to simulate public interest.
Legal instruments like writ petitions—meant to safeguard against rights violations—are now often misused by associations seeking to stall lawful projects. Courts have repeatedly warned against such misuse.
In Divisional Manager, Aravali Golf Club v. Chander Hass (2008), the Supreme Court cautioned against interference in administrative matters by unelected entities. It read, "Judges must exercise judicial restraint and must not encroach into the executive or legislative domain... In the name of judicial activism Judges cannot cross their limits and try to take over functions which belong to another organ of the State."
Also, in Narmada Bachao Andolan v. Union of India (2000), the Apex Court reiterated that once policy decisions are taken after due consideration, courts should not second-guess the merits of such decisions.
And, in State of Punjab v. Ram Lubhaya Bagga (1998), the Supreme Court held that government policy can be changed with changing circumstances, and courts are ill-equipped to run the administration.
The judiciary must resist being drawn into the drama of manufactured dissent. The moment it indulges these theatrics, it inadvertently validates a rogue playbook—one that devalues legitimate civic engagement and weaponises procedural law against public welfare.
A handful of residential associations across India have evolved from stakeholders to saboteurs—not by statutory expansion, but by strategic self-promotion. They brand themselves as the voice of the people while representing a gated minority. They cite public inconvenience while pushing private agendas. And now, emboldened by media manipulation and social amplification, they pursue proxy politics dressed up as participative democracy.
When a duly elected government plans infrastructure in response to security alerts or urban chaos, it does so with the larger public in mind. It cannot—and must not—be forced to justify its every step before self-appointed, self-promoting gatekeepers.
Democracy mandates that all voices be heard—but it also demands that decisions be made by those chosen through law, not likes.
It is time for courts, bureaucracies, and even the public to pierce the veil of representation that some residential associations so conveniently don, and distinguish authentic civic participation from orchestrated obstruction.
India cannot afford for infrastructure and policy to be hijacked by entities whose legitimacy lies not in the Constitution, but in the cunning use of media optics and digital manipulation.
Let residential associations do what they were meant to do—fix broken lifts, manage water supply, and sweep stairwells. Let the State govern, as it must. Let the courts uphold the law, as they are bound to. And let the people—the real people—decide, as they do, every five years.
---
A version of this article was first published in The Draft

Comments

TRENDING

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

What's behind Donald Trump's 'narco-state' accusation against Venezuela

By Manolo De Los Santos  The US government has revived its campaign to label Venezuela a "narco-state", accusing its top leadership of drug trafficking and slapping hefty bounties on their heads for capture. This campaign, which only momentarily took a backseat, is a strategic fabrication, not a factual assessment. This accusation, particularly amplified under the Trump Administration, is a calculated smokescreen to justify a long-standing agenda: the overthrow of the Venezuelan government and the seizure of its vast oil and mineral resources. A closer examination of the facts reveals a country that has actively fought drug trafficking on its own terms and a US government with a clear and consistent history of destabilizing independent countries in Latin America.

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857  By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman*  Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”