Uddhav loses, Shinde rises, Fadnavis gains: Shiv Sena ‘remote control’ changes hands
It’s a day of reckoning for first-time former Chief Minister Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, as he calls himself. The day and date will remain etched in his memory: Thursday, June 30, 2022. The day he saw his government, his CM’s post, and, most tragic of all, the party his father founded slip out of his power, so to speak.
Like the Greek tragic emperor Julius Caesar, Uddhav seems to be the fallen hero in the Maharashtra drama, let down by his own partymen. Brutus, Eknath Shinde pulled the rug from under his feet and co-conspired with Devendra Fadnavis, the former CM from the Bharatiya Janata Party. But that is for another time.
Today is all about the tragic fallen hero, Uddhav and the widely held belief among analysts that Eknath Shinde will most likely be a puppet chief minister. For the ‘remote’ has slipped out of the clutches of the Thackeray family.
THE REMOTE CONTROL
The reference to ‘remote control’ is central to the founder of Shiv Sena, the late Balasaheb Thackeray. Balasaheb wielded full control over his party and moreover, the BJP-Shiv Sena government. National leaders danced to Thackeray’s whims and fancies.
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In fact, on November 22, 1995, then Enron International chairman Kenneth Lay and the company’s chief executive officer Rebecca Mark visited India to negotiate with the BJP-Sena government. During the visit, they completely ignored the then CM Manohar Joshi (from the Shiv Sena) and instead met with Bal Thackeray. And that wasn’t all. A miffed Joshi also had to hear Thackeray saying: “Yes, I am the remote control.”
Today Uddhav saw this very remote slip out of his hands. And worst of all, that remote seems to have gone into the hands of BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, something which the late Thackeray would not have taken kindly to. A rather unforgiving BJP, which likely has not overcome the insults of all those years, will want to ensure that the remote is never given back to the Thackerays, and Uddhav risks losing the reins of the party.
This is a double tragedy for Uddhav, who is the first member of the Thackeray family to dare to become a CM and, moreover, win a trust vote on the Assembly floor (when he took oath as CM). For the man who is the son of Bal Thackeray, this seemed like a courageous move. What is even more interesting is how most of the elite and middle-class citizens who would not have touched the Thackeray family with a barge pole were heard paying rich tributes to Uddhav Thackeray on the night he resigned.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR UDDHAV?
So is Uddhav Thackeray a villain or a fallen hero? Only time will tell. But right now, it is evident that despite the earlier confidence, he was not able to win back the rebels who broke away from Shiv Sena. Till the time he tendered his resignation to the Governor, it seemed he still held the reins of his party. But the minute he resigned it was evident he had resigned to his fate, unlike his father who always held the remote in his hands. That was also the reason Thackeray never contested elections and created fear in the minds of the Shiv Sainiks.
What is the sentiment on the ground level? Will the ordinary Shiv Sainik accept the new CM Eknath Shinde as their party chief? And what about the speculation making the round that Uddhav allowed all of this to happen? Much of these questions will have clearer answers only after the initial euphoria is settled.
What, however, is clear is that certain qualities once associated with Sainiks are no longer seen. Many who have left the party, among them the hardcore Sainiks such as Chhagan Bhujbal and Narayan Rane, had the aggressive qualities honed by the late Bal Thackeray, which extended to at times holding the city for ransom, something Uddhav’s cousin Raj Thackeray adopted.
Uddhav managed to win over the larger public sentiment with the way he spoke and handled the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Women felt at ease as he addressed the state, feeling included in the decisions he took. This was his winning card. However, the rebel leaders blame Uddhav for killing the old Sena spirit and deviating completely from their Hindutva ideology. All of these ended up being reasons given to pull this political coup.
There is speculation over the future of Uddhav, the Shiv Sena party, and whether the Thackerays will keep a hold of their power over this party. Right now, it is a dark tragedy for the first Sena politician who is known not to be aggressive. A fear among his party men also is that he, along with his advisors, will be on the radar of central agencies.
Uddhav, who thought he had paved the way for his son, in all probability will step away from politics, but may negotiate something to ensure son Aaditya has a prominent role to play in the future.
