Maha’s statue politics is intriguing

Statues have often had a link with politics. They have been erected to promote politics and felled in times of political protests.

But not often has the collapse of a statue had such a stirring impact on politics as the fall of the Chhatrapati Shivaji statue at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg district has had in Maharashtra in the last one week.

Prime Minister Modi had to apologise for it and the entire state government was on the backfoot, offering excuses and explanations in embarrassment and in shame.

The statue was a prestigious project erected over six months ago and unveiled by Modi himself in time for the Lok Sabha elections. The worry now is whether its collapse would hurt the ruling coalition because Shivaji Maharaj is so highly venerated in the state that the fall of his statue reflects badly on the government and could shake the coalition. 

The collapse of the statue would not have kicked up so much dust if the state was not heading for elections in the next few weeks.

The ruling Mahayuti -- the alliance of the BJP, the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Ajit Pawar -- is not in the best shape now.

It suffered a setback in the Lok Sabha election and has serious internal differences. All three parties responded differently to the fall of the statue. There are differences over other issues, too, and they have been expressed in public.

The open display of disunity cannot be expected to help the alliance in the elections. There is a feeling in both the BJP and the Shinde-led Sena that the NCP is a weak link in the alliance. The division of seats among the partners is not going to be easy, and there are even doubts whether the alliance will stay together.   

The Opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), the NCP (Sharad Pawar), and the Congress is considered to be better placed to face the election, though the grouping is as incongruous as the ruling alliance.

MVA leaders have claimed that their seat-sharing discussions for some areas have concluded and they will be wrapped up in the coming days, though there are issues that remain to be settled.  

It does not have the kind of internal problems as the Mahayuti has, and its constituent parties have spoken and acted in unison on issues. The MVA has held statewide protests over the collapse of the Shivaji statue and will use it as a potent issue to attack the government with. It wants to make the thud resound in the polls.