Maharashtra polls: Ganesh Naik, son in unravel to regain family’s Navi Mumbai dominance

In Navi Mumbai, the political battle for dominance between BJP leader Ganesh Naik, his son Sandeep Naik, and the parties they now represent has intensified ahead of the 2024 state elections. The Naik family, once a dominant force in the region, is seeking to reclaim its stronghold in the Airoli and Belapur assembly constituencies. The family had previously enjoyed unrivalled control, with Ganesh Naik and Sandeep Naik winning the Belapur and Airoli seats as NCP candidates. Ganesh’s elder son, Sanjeev Naik, was also a Lok Sabha member from Thane, and his nephew Sagar Naik had served as the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation mayor.

New rules on animal testing must take India forward, not backwards: Maneka Gandhi Officials maintain the changes seek to simplify approvals for research institutions, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. Updated on: Oct 26, 2026, 14:54:47 IST By Jasjeev Gandhiok Prefer HTPrefer HT Prefer HT on Google Share The Centre’s draft rules governing animal experimentation have triggered concerns among animal rights groups, which say the changes could weaken independent oversight and make it easier for laboratories to conduct experiments on animals. However, officials maintain the changes seek to simplify approvals for research institutions, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. Former Union minister Maneka Gandhi. Former Union minister Maneka Gandhi. HT speaks to animal rights activist and former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, a long-time campaigner against animal experimentation. Edited excerpts: A major change to animal experimentation, proposed in the draft, is that mild and moderate experiments could be approved by an institution’s own ethics committee rather than going to the central regulator. In practical terms, what does this change mean for an animal inside a laboratory? Does it make it easier for more animals to be experimented on? It means the animal loses the one independent pair of eyes that was looking at its fate. Today, experiments on animals larger than a rat go to the central regulator, and there is at least someone outside the building asking whether this experiment is necessary at all. Under the draft, the people who want to do the experiment, their colleagues and their department heads will be the ones approving it. And it is the institution itself, through its own veterinarian, that decides whether the experiment is mild or moderate in the first place. No institution has ever turned down its own funding. So yes, it will make it easier, and it will make it faster, and that means more animals. Mild and moderate are also the bulk of experiments, so we are effectively handing over most of animal experimentation in India to self regulation. The draft classifies experiments as mild, moderate, severe and non-recovery. Is there a concern that the institution conducting the research will effectively decide how severe the experiment is. Does this leave a grey area? It isn’t grey, it is completely black. Under this draft, the institution that wants to do the experiment is also the one that decides which category it falls into. That decision matters enormously, because if the experiment is classified as mild or moderate, the institution’s own committee approves it and it never goes to the central regulator. Only severe and non-recovery experiments on larger animals go outside. So the same people who want the experiment approved are deciding whether anyone independent will ever examine it. That is a clear conflict of interest, and it will push experiments towards the lower categories. Starving a rat for a day is called mild. Keeping a social animal alone in a cage is mild. Starving it for two days, or putting it through distress it cannot escape, is moderate. So is testing herbal products, testing established drugs, and anything described as having “known and reversible effects,” which could mean almost anything. This is not a scientific list. It is the most common commercial work. The draft also creates exceptions and allows laboratories to use animals from open markets, unregistered sources, and in certain circumstances, stray, feral, wild and protected animals. What is the biggest risk that this may create for animals in practice? Could community dogs, lost pets or animals taken from the wild find their way into laboratories? The biggest risk is that nobody will know where an animal came from. The whole point of registered breeders was traceability. Once you allow open markets and unregistered sources for cattle, goats, birds and fish, you create a demand, and in this country demand is met very quickly by people who will pick up anything. Strays and wild animals can be used if a “competent authority” permits it, and the draft never says who that is. Community dogs, someone’s lost pet, birds from illegal markets, all of it can find its way into a laboratory. These exceptions should be removed completely. If a lab cannot get an animal from a registered source, it should not be doing that experiment. The draft formally incorporates the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement, but critics say these safeguards become weaker if institutions themselves are approving experiments. Do you believe India should now be moving towards replacing animal experiments altogether, particularly when the health ministry has already allowed certain drug testing through non-animal methods? What should the rules do differently? Yes, and we are not starting from zero. The health ministry has already amended the drug rules to accept non-animal methods. The world is moving this way because these methods are often more predictive for humans than a mouse ever was. Writing replacement, reduction and refinement into the rules means nothing if the person checking compliance is the institution itself. The rules should make it mandatory to show that no validated alternative exists before an animal is used, set up a national body to validate and promote alternatives, put money into them, and set timelines to phase out animal use in areas where alternatives are already available. A rule that only mentions replacement as a principle is decoration. You have worked on animal experimentation regulation for decades. What specific changes would you want the government to make to this draft? I don’t think this draft can be fixed. There is hardly a provision in it that doesn’t need changing, and when everything needs to change, it is better to start again. So the draft should be put aside and written afresh, this time with independent scientists, animal welfare organisations and legal experts at the table. The new rules must take India forward, not backwards. Animals already have certain protections under the law which cannot be taken away. New should be building on them.

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However, with the rise of the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, the Naik family’s political fortunes took a hit. Ganesh Naik lost the Belapur seat to BJP’s Manda Mhatre, while Sanjeev Naik was defeated by Shiv Sena’s Rajan Vichare in the Lok Sabha elections. Sandeep Naik was the only one to retain his Airoli seat. Ahead of the 2019 elections, the Naiks shifted their allegiance to the BJP, with Ganesh Naik securing the Airoli assembly seat after stepping aside from Belapur, which was then taken over by BJP’s Mhatre.

In a dramatic twist for the 2024 elections, Sandeep Naik has left his post as Navi Mumbai BJP chief and rejoined the NCP to challenge Mhatre in Airoli. The Naik family aims to regain control of the region, especially as Navi Mumbai is witnessing significant development, including the construction of a new international airport and a large township in the vicinity.

BJP’s Manda Mhatre, however, remains confident of her victory. “The father-son duo is planning to regain their hold on Navi Mumbai, but people are aware. They are circulating fake videos and calling me aggressive. I am zero if I am not aggressive. My aggression is against the wrong things,” Mhatre stated.

The rivalry with the Shiv Sena, a key player in the region, is also at play, with Eknath Shinde-led party candidates Vijay Chougule and Vijay Nahata contesting as independents in Airoli and Belapur, respectively. Nahata, a retired bureaucrat-turned-politician, dismissed the Naik family’s influence, stating, “There is a misconception that the Naiks have a hold in Navi Mumbai. They have been defeated in the past.”

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) has fielded M K Madhavi against Ganesh Naik in Airoli, accusing the Naik family of political opportunism. “The Naik family has ruled this city for the last 35 years but has done nothing for bhoomiputras. They have just changed parties frequently for power,” Madhavi asserted.

Sandeep Naik, however, defended his move, stating that his primary goal is the city’s development and employment generation. “The sitting MLA has not done anything in the past ten years, so there is a vacuum now. I have switched sides because what I was promised was not fulfilled,” he said.

Ganesh Naik, on the other hand, remains confident of his victory, with BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis rallying behind him. “Ganesh Naik will register a massive victory in the November 20 elections,” Fadnavis declared, while also taking a jab at Sandeep Naik’s return to the NCP, hinting that rebel candidates in Belapur would soon realize their true standing in the region. The election results will be announced on November 23.