Uddhav Thackeray is judged very early and came under attack on several occasions since he has taken oath as Chief Minister of Maharashtra. When he was in alliance with BJP and when he broke alliance, both the times he actually gave sleepless nights to various leaders. As one leader, who might not have contested elections or held any portfolios as a political leader, but politics is what he lived ever since he was growing. His father Balasaheb Thackeray needs no introduction. Balasaheb and Uddhav Thackeray are very close to the people of Maharashtra, they are in tune with the citizens and know Maharashtra farmers and what the state needs. They are grass root level leaders who have been loved by most of the people of this soil. In spite all odds that has come his way after taking oath as Chief Minister, he is doing excellent work. Most of the people who are criticizing him are either non-Maharashtrian, sitting at home watching biased news channels, reading fake news on WhatsApp and commenting about his leadership on social media. Or they are those IT cell members who are only assigned to criticize him because he has crushed the ego of all those people who were claiming their return to power. People who live in Maharashtra know him very well and I am one of them. It’s not about only Marathi people but every Maharashtrian resident and others who lived here for long. As far as Maha Vikas Aghadi is concerned, it’s a lethal combination in the political plethora. Congress and NCP have ruled the state for longest time and both have experience in ruling Maharashtra as a state. Shiv Sena has manpower and dedicated workers, especially Uddhav has a very engrossed desire to make positive difference to the state and its people.
Look at his media briefings every alternate day, biggest city in India is completely under lockdown and he reaches people with so much affection and love. We the Mumbaikar feel like listening to him because his tone is always modest, the way he makes his point about the safety or other concerns it sounds like he is one of the family members who has immense concern for his people. If we compare COVID-19 cases in Mumbai with other cities around the world with same number of population then you will come to know that he is doing great work. For Example, let’s take New York City, population of New York City is half of that of Mumbai and cases in NYC are 200,000+. Now let’s talk about Mumbai Population, it’s around 2 Crore+ and the cases are 6000–7000 and doubling rate is increasing too. Mumbai is city which has highest population density, but still cases are under control. This problem is not state created, its global issue and my state government is doing its best address this pandemic. So, what is the point is criticizing Uddhav when he is doing his best in such a crisis. Trust me, CM Uddhav doesn’t lack leadership skills, he is protecting Maharashtra very well. Sometime do listen to his media briefings and you will understand. Uddhav Thackrey is doing a great job considering he has no past knowledge of administration work. Instead of blaming him for the greatest number of cases in Maharashtra, the decisions he has taken that have considerably helped the city and state to control the spread. It would really be premature to form opinion about Uddhav and declare him a failure as his tenure as Maharashtra CM has started just a few months back.
As soon as Mumbai came across COVID-19 cases, all schools and colleges were shut down on 13th March. Mumbai local trains, which are considered as lifeline of Mumbai were shut down before 20th March. Before Maharashtra even crossed 50 COVID-19 cases, all offices were shut down and administration offices were working at 5% attendance. He increased the Shiv-Bhojan thali (lunch) from 20000 to 100000 in short time and that too at Rs 5 for poor people. Maharashtra state has done most number of testing in the country which counts approximately more than 20% of the total testing in India. He announced complete lockdown of state before Prime Minister of India did. He takes daily conferences to ensure people of government actions and requests the citizens to take care. He ensured migrant workers of daily food and free testing and pledged to take their care until the crises is resolved. He has excellent understanding and is in constant contact with the Prime Minister and home minister of the country. He has also played down the incidents which would have disturbed harmony by revealing the truth behind it and has warned that if someone tries to disturb harmony or cause religious tension then he would not spare them. Citizens harmonious existence in the state is one of his top priorities in battling this pandemic. The current pandemic requires collective responsibility, be it the respective state governments and the central government collectively or we as citizens at an individual level. So Uddhav may be new CM without any prior experience but you also have to keep in mind that his party, the Shiv Sena is in power for the last 27+ years in nations financial capital. And mind you Mumbai despite being a city has a budget higher than Goa and Sikkim. So, his party men who are in the cabinet and also in various posts at the different levels of the administration are well experienced. Though as I have earlier mentioned, that there have been shortcomings but today the time is not to complain but to collectively work to fight against this crisis. If Uddhav had not taken these decisions early there would have been more cases compared to the number of positive cases that are found in Gujarat and other states. I am pleasantly surprised at the way Uddhav Thackeray has managed the State so far. His past record as a Successful Organization Man with a decent Electoral performance record, but his Administrative Performance was not tested for let’s say lack of opportunity. But the way he has steered the State administrative machinery at the most difficult and challenging hour needs to be acknowledged and the positively spirited efforts are definitely worth applauding. His major asset has been his degree of humility as the Sena Supremo because he is instinctively compared to his late Illustrious and charismatic father and second with his hot-headed cousin Raj Thackeray. One hopes he rides this crisis through successfully and delivers on the crucial front of economic growth for the State.
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