Last week’s MNS rally in Mumbai takes Raj Thackeray closer to Shiv Sena much to the discomfiture of the Congress
The massive turnout at the protest march and rally organised by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on August 21 has at least one party very worried. The possible pro-Hindutva tilt of the MNS, putting it on the same page as its once bitter protagonist, the Shiv Sena, could spell big trouble for the Congress, already in deep waters with its coalition partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The Congress has gained hugely in the past from the MNS splitting the Marathi vote, and has even been accused of propping up the party for this very reason. But all that would change if MNS starts being viewed as an anti-Muslim force, and makes common cause with the Shiv Sena.
No wonder then that a day before Raj Thackeray’s rally, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan expressed fears that the MNS was trying to score over the Shiv Sena by hijacking its Hindutva agenda.
For his part, Raj Thackeray vehemently denied in his speech at the rally that he was going the Hindutva way, stressing that his only religion or dharma was “Maharashtra dharma” — read allegiance to the State and Marathi manoos.
The August 11 riots at Azad Maidan where policemen and women bore the brunt of mob fury was interpreted by MNS as an attack on the Marathi people. Raj Thackeray pitched his aggressive stand on Raza Academy and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi as part of the MNS’s campaign against North Indians in Maharashtra. By hitting out at Azmi and Bangladeshis (waving a green coloured passport on the stage to leave no one in doubt), he spelt out his anti-“outsider” agenda once again. Only this time, they happened to be Muslims.
Whether Raj’s tirade means he’s turning saffron remains to be seen. The MNS has not been known to campaign on an anti-Muslim plank. Some of its MLAs have been supported with votes from the Muslim community. But with one rally, he managed both to drive home that he is no less a saviour of the Marathi manoos than the Shiv Sena, and creep into cousin Uddhav’s Hindutva territory.
Talk of the waning influence of the MNS, along with that of the Shiv Sena, now seems premature.
Transfer
The transfer of Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik after the MNS rally is seen by the party as a feather in its cap. Uddhav has been most approving of his cousin’s show of strength. But he also acted to reclaim the Sena’s image as the original Hindutva party. After the MNS rally, the Sena was quick to revive the slogan “Garv se Kaho Ham Hindu Hain,” a throwback to its 1992 agitation, in the months before Babri Masjid was demolished. In further efforts to recapture the glory days of the Sena, posters have appeared of Bal Thackeray, the caption “Ekta Tiger (the only tiger”) on them curiously resonating with the title of the latest Salman Khan flick, “Ek Tha Tiger.”
The Shiv Sena response to the riots at Azad Maidan was restrained — Uddhav Thackeray went to pay “homage” to the Amar Jawan memorial which was targeted by the mob, and made the understated warning that he too could call out the Sena in its thousands. But despite the attempts at differentiation, from the MNS, Uddhav’s demand for the resignation of Patnaik and State Home Minister R.R. Patil echoed Raj’s and only seemed to underline the point that both have a common agenda.
While talk of an alliance between the MNS and Shiv Sena may also be premature, there are other signs of the two formerly warring cousins warming up to each other.
In July when Uddhav Thackeray was taken for tests to Lilavati Hospital, Raj did the once unthinkable by visiting his cousin at the hospital, and then driving him home. Later too, during Uddhav’s angioplasty, there was much camaraderie between the two. That neither Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray, nor Uddhav, his son, are in great health at the moment, could be a reason for the new proximity.
The better performance of the MNS compared to that of the Shiv Sena in the recent Mumbai civic elections is no less relevant. Though the Sena won a fourth successive term, over the years, there has been a steady decrease in the number of seats it wins. On the other hand, from just seven seats in 2007, the MNS pulled together 28 seats in the February election.
This is clearly worrying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena’s ally. Already there is talk of a possible BJP-Shiv Sena-MNS alliance in the next Assembly polls. If that happens, it will severely test the Congress. Aside from the party’s rocky relationship with the NCP, the police commissioner’s transfer has seen the government come under attack. Further, the death of Vilasrao Deshmukh has left a huge gap in leadership, which will be felt acutely in the next polls. The last thing the Congress wants now is an alignment of the Thackeray cousins.