Congress-Shiv Sena, a tricky alliance

The tension that has crept in the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance after Rahul Gandhi’s sarcastic remarks that he will not apologise as his name is “not Rahul Savarkar” is yet again a reminder that while politics indeed at times makes strange bedfellows, the honeymoon period of such “unnatural alliance” ends very quickly and what is thereafter is bickering, which eventually end up into a bitter break-up.

Gandhi’s remarks that came during the party’s Bharat Bachao rally on Saturday were not part of his attack on Hindutva politics but over the BJP’s insistence on his apology in Parliament over his “Rape in India” remarks. This irked its newly acquired alliance partner from the erstwhile saffron family, the Shiv Sena. The Congress had, in the past, repeatedly invoked the issue of nationalism by spotlighting how Savarkar, lodged in Cellular Jail in Andaman Nicobar, had written a mercy (apology) letter to the BJP government in 1913 to put the BJP on the mat.

While the BJP claims that Savarkar apologised to the British only to fight them more effectively after being out of jail, Savarkar’s name has quite a resonance in Maharashtra and Gandhi’s remarks have, hence, put the Sena, which swears by the latter’s name, in quite an uncomfortable scenario. Not surprisingly, the Sena, which under the Congress' pressure, revised its stand even on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (by abstaining from voting in the Rajya Sabha after having supported it in the Lok Sabha), reacted with outspoken outrage over the Congress leader’s remarks. While Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was upset over Rahul’s remarks, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut took to Twitter to remind the Congress scion “we respect Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, you don't insult Savarkar.”

Notwithstanding the discomfiture of the new ally, the Congress on Sunday late afternoon, put out a video clip of P Chidambaram, arguing that it was Savarkar, who sowed the seeds of the two-nation theory and Muhammad Ali Jinnah picked it up from the Hindu Mahasabha.

“The Hindu Mahasabha, Savarkar & Jinnah sowed the seeds of a two-nation theory. We are not going to take lessons from the BJP on history,” Chidambaram said as the BJP trained guns on the Congress for insulting Savarkar and raising questions on the Sena.

Not to be left behind, BSP Chief Mayawati also accused the Congress of “double standards”, pointing out that the Sena first supported the central government on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and is now intolerant of the Congress opinion on Savarkar.

Ironically, Mayawati herself has seen a coalition of contradictions. Having allied with the BSP’s arch-rival in state politics Samajwadi Party during 2019 Lok Sabha polls, she broke ties just three months after the alliance bombed. She said the votes of the SP did not get transfer to the BSP. Both parties contested the assembly bypolls in the state separately.

For the Congress, alliance with the Shiv Sena was a big political gamble as the two parties were ideologically sharp apart and a section of leaders are apprehensive of the alliance meeting the same fate later what the Congress-JDS alliance in Karnataka met this year, one year after it had come together to form a state government in the state and check the BJP.

The same story played out when the BJP and the PDP, that are ideologically poles apart, came together to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015. Three years later, the BJP pulled the rug beneath its feet in June 2018.

In Bihar, it was even shorter when the alliance between bitter rivals Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad could not sustain even for two years. They formed the government in October 2015 and in July 2017, Nitish Kumar walked out of it to come back to the NDA fold.

Though NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal has tried to do a balancing act arguing that when it comes to “big personalities”, not everyone agrees on everything and that Rahul has his own thoughts about Savarkar, the divide between the Sena and the Congress on Savarkar is too deep to be papered over. Bhujbal has asked whether the BJP will accept Savarkar’s thought that “Cow is not out mother.”