Mumbai is one of India’s largest cities as well as a center for global commerce. The city has transformed itself from a former British colonial city into a thriving Global City at the heart of international trade and finance. Mumbai does not solely rely on its port to remain relevant in the competitive 21st-century global market. The metropolitan area has extended its global reach, becoming a hub for numerous multinational finance and telecommunications firms. Though the influx of international capital and increased global connectivity has brought prosperity to numerous city residents, many poor residents do not eagerly welcome this change. The effects of globalization have reshaped the physical and economic structure of the city while also creating greater inequalities between extremely poor residents, the wealthy, and the rising middle class. The effects of a globalized Mumbai have especially affected the physical and cultural makeup of the slum of Dharavi.

Mumbai is a developing city with socioeconomic extremes. Before the BJP came to power, the wealthy lived relatively close to and commuted through extremely impoverished areas. Hindus and Muslims intermingled relatively peacefully in the slums of Mumbai before 1995. The shift of power towards an extremely Hindu-nationalist city government negatively reshaped the slums of Mumbai. Since the BJP-led-city government came to power in 1995, the city’s attitude towards this inner city slum has become much more abrasive and actively abusive. The lack of affordable transportation into central Mumbai for the poor has led to even greater socio-economic tensions among classes. Housing policies and the overall disregard for order in the central slum have increasingly alienated the Muslim minority. Local BJP officials in Dharavi have repeatedly neglected to seek justice for Muslim businesses and homes that have been vandalized or attacked by Hindi gangs. Muslim sections of Dharavi have been targeted by Hindu communities for redevelopment plans, displacing thousands of residents with little if any compensation.