Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis issued a statement that the BJP unit in Maharashtra is prepared for mid-term polls. The buzz about a midterm poll is getting louder all over again in Maharashtra as the Bharatiya Janata Party is finding it tough to get along with its ally, Shiv Sena. Since 2014, both the parties have locked horns with each other on various issues. Uddhav kept on threatening BJP to withdraw support and BJP tried its level best to mitigate, but now finally even ruling party BJP has realised that these are verbal warnings and Sena will not act according to what they say.
During Uttar Pradesh elections the verbal war continued but BJP has done very well in the state. The BJP leadership in Maharashtra had decided to patch up with Sena, the result for the Mumbai civic body elections too has gone in favour of the saffron party. Ahead of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation poll, the differences between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) widened as the war of words between leaders of both the parties reached the pinnacle. Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar took pot shots at Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray over his stand regarding Samruddhi super-communication highway between Nagpur and Mumbai. Shelar cornered Thackeray and stated that ‘some people have habit of criticising even good work of the government. His indication was towards Uddhav’s opposition to Samrudhhi highway. Thackeray had held meeting with farmers from Shahapur in Thane district affected by the project and had assured them Sena will be behind them and he will speak to CM in this regard. Shelar stated that Modi and Fadnavis have given instruction to do any work with transparency and we will do it.
During that period NCP had declared unconditional support to the BJP government immediately after the results were declared for 2014 assembly elections, through which the BJP bagged 122 seats. To remain in power, the BJP needed 145 seats in the 288-member assembly. BJP and Sena, keep on targeting each other with no holds barred. Scaling up the attack, Sena leaders even hinted that the party may quit the state government, sparking in the political circles that Sena may withdraw support to the BJP-led state government after the BMC polls. While the Opposition came together to announce a statewide protest to demand a loan waiver for farmers, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), upset with ally Shiv Sena’s continued opposition to it in the legislature, including on the suspension of 19 Opposition legislators, went into a huddle.
Meanwhile, the Opposition, after their rout in the local polls, came together and announced a statewide ‘Sangharsh Yatra’ against the government by boycotting the Assembly. The decision came a day after the state government suspended 19 Opposition legislators for creating a ruckus on the day of the budget. That was the first time since the BJP romped to victory in the 2014 Assembly polls that the Congress and NCP planned a state wide political initiative together.
Within the Sena, there is confusion on how to walk the tightrope between being part of the government and playing the role of opposition. The confusion is only because the BJP does not take them into confidence before announcing their decisions. Finally, after lots of pressure from all the sides, Fadnavis government had agreed to the long-standing demand of farmers and announced a loan waiver for them last Sunday. Both the BJP and the Shiv Sena are trying, in their own way, to reach out to farmers. While Fadnavis is leading from the front to publicize what the BJP has done, now question is that, will Thackeray’s staunch criticism puncture the claims?
Shiv Sena was founded in 1966 for the rights of Marathi people in Mumbai. Sena’s early ideology was rights for Marathi manoos (Marathi people). The party originally emerged from a movement in Mumbai demanding preferential treatment for Maharashtrians over migrants to the city. The party adopted ‘Hindutva’ in the late 80s as back then the Ram Janmabhoomi movement gained momentum and popularity. The party believes in aggressive Hindutva as opposed to BJP’s moderate Hinduvta ideology.
Balasaheb Thackeray has in the past openly criticized the Muslims of this country who live in India but love Pakistan, whereas the BJP hasn’t been so vocal against the minorities. Balasaheb said, he was proud of his Shivsainiks who helped demolish the Babri Masjid. Meanwhile the main Ram Janmabhoomi movement leader LK Advani, criticised the demolition, and called that day as the ‘most saddest’ day in his life. The Shiv Sena has admitted that, it was involved in the 1992 riots and they did it to save the Hindus in Mumbai, but the BJP has never openly admitted to any riot. Balasaheb bluntly said he didn’t believe in the democracy but the BJP has never said anything like this. So, as you can see Shiv Sena has two ideologies out of which one relates to Marathi people and Maharashtra and the other is Hindutva which is a bit on the extreme side. But with the changing time, they are following none of these ideologies. They merged with BJP on every level and lost their own sheen.
Whereas BJP’s main ideology is (moderate) Hindutva or the Hindu Nationalism, but along with that they announced that the development is their priority. Since 2014, the modern Modi BJP is active on all fronts, but achieving too much success has made them arrogant and over confident. Both political parties are fighting with each other on non-issues, by sidelining Rs. 70,000 crore irrigation scam. Government has refused to order a probe and Sena too never forced them much on this front. Many scams have surfaced, but neither Sena nor BJP ever spoke about those but they always shielded such acts by planting favourable stories in media.
Let’s see, how long Sena and BJP will indulge in a verbal war?
