As we are entering the final year of this government’s unenviable lackluster term, it is evident that the public is fatigued by the relentless self-promotion; the constant prioritising of elections over administration; and above all, the emptiness of a man who promised so much and delivered so little. However, on the other side, we have Shiv Sena, who in the last years has done nothing except mudslinging its ally BJP. The track record of both the parties are totally communal and regional, these parties have done nothing for its people than feeding Hinduism and hate against minorities and lower casts. Coming together of these parties is not of a shock for anybody.
The BJP has allies in almost every states of the country. Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) one of the three constituencies of the BJP-led government in Assam, left the alliance in protest against the proposed Citizenship Bill last month. Bhartiya Janata Party broke its alliance with Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in June 2018 in Jammu and Kashmir over ideological conflicts. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of Chandrababu Naidu also moved out of the alliance claiming that BJP stands for “Break Janata Promise”. Akali Dal in Punjab, BJD in Orissa, JDU in Bihar, and some smaller parties in other states have been partners with BJP in different states in different times but at the end, all the allies broke their alliance with the BJP. However, if we look at closely, we will come to know that the BJP’s sudden growth in these states. In India, regional parties are as strong as national parties. They play a crucial role in forming the Centre and the State government.
When BJP joined hands with these regional parties, it was obviously a younger brother, but as time passes, it got the popularity and become more dominant all because of Modi factors which started disturbing the allies. Some party’s chief broke alliance for the sake of trying their luck for Prime Ministerial candidates, however, some stick together so that they can survive, and the same goes with Shiv Sena as well. For Bal Thackeray, Hinduism was more important than anything else. He never compromised with Hindutva and Marathi issues at any cost, and BJP for that matter was his most trusted ally. Their ideology was almost the same; however, Thackeray was most hardcore. Whereas, Uddhav Thackeray on the other side, seeks the Chief Minister’s chair only. It is quite evident that with Uddhav, Shiv Sena has compromised on Hindutva and with its very core belief systems. They are trying to become ‘Indian Version of Secular’, but with having BJP as an elder brother, Uddhav can never see his dream coming true, and that can be enough reason that he decided to fight Maharashtra Assembly Elections in 2014 against BJP and failed to win the required seats.
Moreover, both the parties post their alliance in 2014, have been countering and questioning each other. While one side Shiv Sena supported Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s demand of joint parliamentary prove into the Rafale deal, and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut supported Chandrababu Naidu’s dharna in Delhi recently for special status to Andhra Pradesh. However, at the other hand, BJP president Amit Shah, on a veiled warning to Shiv Sena said that if the alliance is not finalised for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, then the Bhartiya Janata Party will crush its ex-allies like its opponents, and if the alliance is done them the party will make sure that the allies win with majority. However, retaliating to Shah’s warning, Shiv Sena chief said that “no one is born in this world that can crush the Sena.” The Sena chief also claimed Modi government of misusing the EVS machines, along with communal issues and most importantly Ram Mandir for vote bank, that’s why even being into power for the last five year it hasn’t even started the construction of the Mandir on ground level, it is going to use the issue again for 2019 elections.
Shiv Sena has so many times presented its unhappiness and complaints against BJP. At a time, it said that it was being treated as step-motherly by BJP senior leaders which somewhere created furor between both the parties. After Pulwama terror attack, Shiv Sena asked Modi-led BJP government to do a surgical strike to Pakistan as America did after 9/11 attack rather than defending itself and blaming the oppositions. If we look back the Shiv Sena has threatened to BJP that they will collapse the Maharashtra State Government by withdrawing from the government, however, the fact is it hasn’t done anything except mudslinging at the BJP, and this activity raises many questions on its own ideological existence, after breaking the hollow threats, however, if they were genuine, they could have simply moved out of alliance without fussing about it, they could have moved and took the support of NCP and Congress, and made BJP sit in the opposition, they also could have to get the support of these parties in BMC elections, even though they didn’t dare. However, Sena just kept doing what it’s good at, giving hollow threats to the BJP of leaving the alliance.
Shiv Sena-BJP alliance was successful in forming a government in Maharashtra during 1995-1999, which was headed by Manohar Joshi (1995-98) and Narayan Rane (1998-99), who also belonged to the Shiv Sena. However, the performance of this government can be measured by the fact that the next three governments were headed by the Congress-NCP coalition. After attacking the BJP continuously for over the four and half years, Shiv Sena chief announced that he has made “peace” with its ally for the sake of larger “Hindutva Agenda”. Whatsoever, it is interesting to see what they are going to do for the Hindus in the future apart from criticising each other and fooling Hindus.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
