90

Today’s India has a low level of urbanisation, but the country boasts a number of remarkably large cities. Based on a case study of the metropolis of Mumbai (Maharashtra State, India), this article describes the way that politicians and industrial leaders have, during the three decades following independence, allowed the creation and perpetuation of chaotic situations which have tolerated and encouraged the construction of homes by migrants, despite or because of their lack of legal status. This situation has now reached a crisis, due to the development of the industrial, financial and property sectors, and the subsequent disappearance of the worker movement. Intercommunity riots broke out after a series of strikes; political action moved from centrist parties to extremist parties, union leaders found themselves outgunned by the local mafia, while the politicians sought to follow the movement towards economic liberalisation and to “urban cleanliness,” albeit with great reluctance.