Sena vs Sena: Can Uddhav reclaim the reins?

Fifty-six years after Shiv Sena was formed and a decade after its charismatic founder Balasaheb Thackeray passed away, the most prominent and successful regional party of Maharashtra is at crossroads.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is suffering the biggest crisis – after one of the most prominent leader of the party outside the family of its founder, Eknath Shinde, staged a coup and walked away with 40 of its 55 MLAs, joined hands with BJP, dislodged his master as the chief minister, threw out the Maha Vikas Aghadi government from power and placed himself at helm of the state government.

All these happened in a fortnight, but the planning had been going on for over six months.

Also Read: Blow to Uddhav Thackeray as ex-corporators turn to Eknath Shinde

In the over five decades, the Shiv Sena has faced many rebellions – the major ones being by Chhagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray – and the party managed to resurrect itself. This time the blow has been bigger than the previous ones..

With polls to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the lifeblood of the Shiv Sena, around the corner, the challenge is much bigger. A dozen other municipal councils, gram panchayats and zilla parishads across Maharashtra will also go to polls over the next few months. The Shiv Sena thus has an uphill task to hold on to its base.

The Shiv Sena has the option to tie-up with Sharad Pawar-led NCP and the Congress for the local bodies’ elections. But it will have to face a formidable challenge from the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led faction and perhaps Raj Thackeray-led MNS.

For the Thackeray-Pawar duo, it’s also a challenge to prove that the MVA experiment – an example of opposition unity – can still take on the BJP.

Also Read: Battles ahead...

On June 19, 1966, when Balasaheb Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena, he gave the mantra to his followers – “80 takke samaj-karan, 20 takke raj-karan” (80 per cent social work, 20 per cent politics). At the historic Shivaji Park at Dadar, known as Shiv-Teerth by Shiv Sainiks, when Balasaheb addressed his first rally on October 30 in the same year, he asked his followers to adopt it.

Of course, for the regional party from Maharashtra, welfare of the ‘Bhoomiputra’ or “Marathi Manoos” and Hindutva, were the agenda.

The party draws inspiration from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the legendary Maratha warrior.

Its electoral symbol “bow and arrow”, its saffron flag and the iconic photo of a roaring tiger is known to one and all in Maharashtra.

The best option for the Shiv Sena now is to go back to basics – and make its presence felt across the masses.

“(The) Shiv Sena is not born for power…power is born for the Shiv Sena. This has always been Balasaheb’s mantra. We will work and come to power on our own once again,” said the party’s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut, a close aide of the Thackeray-family.

Also Read: Nobody can take Shiv Sena's 'bow and arrow' symbol: Uddhav Thackeray

“The Shiv Sena has a unique hierarchy – Shiv Sena Pramukh, followed by Netes and Up-Netes, Vibagh Pramukh, Up-Vibagh Pramukh, Zilla Pramukhs, Shahar Pramukhs and Shakha Pramukh…It has deep penetration in the grassroot level,” said veteran political analyst, journalist and writer Prakash Akolkar, who wrote Shiv Sena’s first biography. The split in the legislature party is known to people, but no one knows about the undercurrent yet, he added.

Uddhav, who was accused of being inaccessible by the rebels, is now regularly meeting people and leaders at the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar as well as at his home, Matoshree, in Bandra. For him and his son Aaditya, retaining the BMC is a matter of prestige.

In fact, for over a quarter of a century, the Shiv Sena has been controlling the Mumbai civic body, one of the biggest and richest in India. “Winning BMC is the number one goal of the Shiv Sena. It will keep the party in active mode,” said veteran analyst Ajit Joshi, who is an expert of Mumbai’s civic affairs.

The Shiv Sena has constantly been No. 1 in the BMC – 1997 (103 seats), 2002 (97 seats), 2007 (84 seats), 2012 (75 seats) and 2017 (84 seats). The party led the tally with 84 seats in 2017, followed by the BJP (82), Congress (31), NCP (9), MNS (7), Samajwadi Party (6), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (2) and others (6). “If the BJP enters into an alliance with the Shiv Sena faction led by Shinde and the MNS, it would be a real challenge to the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav, who would have no option but to have an electoral arrangement with the NCP and the Congress,” added Joshi.

In the next phase, the Shiv Sena would have to concentrate in Konkan, which is known for its “money order economy” as a large number of people from the districts in the region work in the Mumbai metropolitan area.