Speculations are rife that Chhagan Bhujbal and Narayan Rane may rejoin Shiv Sena, as both of them are being sidelined by their respective present political parties. I remember, once Balasaheb Thackeray used a line from Marathi poem in his editorial “Ya Chimanyano Parat Phira Re” (all sparrow returned to your next) which was meant for Raj Thackeray. However by that time, Raj had feelings that he is no longer a ‘CHIMANI’ (sparrow, a small bird) but a ‘GARUD’ (eagle) so he didn’t respond to his call. Raj Thackeray resigned from his uncle’s party in January 2006 and announced his intention to start a new political party. On 9th March 2006 in Mumbai, Thackeray founded a party named “Maharashtra Navnirman Sena”. At the time of the party’s foundation, Thackeray stated that he does not want to have hostilities with his uncle who “was, is and always will be (his) mentor”. There after Raj had his rise and fall, and even Balasaheb is now no more.
Section of Marathi Media has used the line with reference to rumours of Bhujbal and Rane rejoining Shiv Sena. In 1991, when Chhagan Bhujbal left the party, he was so scared of a violent Sena backlash that he went into hiding for nearly a month. Then Narayan Rane was expelled from the Sena, not only did he remain in the public eye but also paraded his grievances before the TV cameras. While Thackeray announced Rane’s expulsion at a meeting of Sena corporators and MLAs at the Rangsharda Hall in Bandra (W), Rane retaliated by addressing a press conference barely a stone’s throw away from the Mumbai suburb where he accused the Sena chief of ‘putra prem’ (blind love for his son, Uddhav). Due to Uddhav, all grassroots level leaders quit Sena and joined different political parties. It was big setback for Shiv Sena.
Now, anyhow Uddhav has managed to take the control of the party in his hand but still Shiv Sena’s future remains uncertain. Congress has no leader of Narayan Rane’s calibre and popularity in Maharashtra, so Rane has better prospects in Congress instead of Shiv Sena. However for the Bhujbal, it is different cases. Bhujbal have many cases and he remains neck deep in corruption cases and in such circumstances he will not be welcomed by Sena, rather party will lose its ground. Bhujbal and Rane are two senior, mature, experienced and egoistic leaders to work under Uddhav’s leadership. Moreover, Uddhav has also grown by age but not by wisdom, he will not take any suggestions or orders from these leaders. Meanwhile irony is that, Uddhav is surrounded by many unwanted people who always fed him wrong things. Moreover, Uddhav is also known for his weak ears.
The party originally emerged from a movement in Mumbai demanding preferential treatment for Maharashtrians over migrants in the city. The issues slowly with time took a backseat. Although the party’s primary base is still in Maharashtra, it has tried to expand to a pan-Indian base. In the 1970s, it gradually moved from advocating a pro-Marathi ideology to one supporting a broader Hindu nationalist agenda, as it aligned itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party started taking part in Mumbai (BMC) Municipal elections since its inception. In 1989, it entered into an alliance with BJP for Lok Sabha as well as Maharashtra assembly elections, the latter of which was temporarily broken in October 2014 Assembly elections but it was undone soon and Shiv Sena became part of the BJP government in Maharashtra in December 2014. It has been a coalition partner in the National Democratic Alliance since 1998, including the Vajpayee Government during 1998–2004 and the present Narendra Modi Government.
The party has a powerful hold over the Bollywood film industry. It has been referred to as an “extremist, “chauvinist, as well as a “fascist party. Shiv Sena has been blamed for the 1970 communal violence in Bhiwandi, 1984 Bhiwandi riots and violence that occurred during the 1992-1993 Bombay riots.
After the Independence of India in 1947, regional administrative divisions from the colonial era were gradually changed and states following linguistic borders were created. Within the Bombay Presidency, a massive popular struggle was launched for the creation of a state for the Marathi-speaking people. In 1960, the presidency was divided into two linguistic states – Gujarat and Maharashtra. Moreover, Marathi-speaking areas of the erstwhile Hyderabad state were joined with Maharashtra. Mumbai, in many ways the economic capital of India, became the state capital of Maharashtra. On one hand, people belonging to the Gujarati community owned the majority of the industry and trade enterprises in the city. On the other hand, there was a steady flow of South Indian migrants to the city who came to take many white-collar jobs.
The Shiv Sena especially attracted a large number of unemployed Marathi youth, who were attracted by Thackeray’s charged anti-migrant oratory. Shiv Sena cadres became involved in various attacks against the South Indian communities, vandalizing South Indian restaurants and pressuring employers to hire Marathis. The Sena started placing more weight on the Hindutva ideology in the 1970s as the ‘sons of the soil’ cause was weakening. Sena was the opposition party in the state along with the BJP from 1999 to 2014. The Shiv Sena-BJP combine governs the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Traditionally the main strongholds of Shiv Sena have been Mumbai and the Konkan coastal areas. However, in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections the result was reversed. The Shiv Sena made inroads in the interior parts of the state, while suffering losses in Mumbai.
If Shiv Sena has to sustain further it needs strong leaders and leadership.
