Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray is down. But certainly not out. After resignation, he resolved to revive the Shiv Sena by reaching out to youths and Shiv Sainiks. As the party insider said, “Uddhav Thackeray was an accidental CM but it was unfortunate that he met with an accident.”
Thackeray will have to chart a new path after learning lessons from the rebellion started by his close confidant Eknath Shinde. Apart from increasing focus on the Sena’s traditional vote bank, the Marathi Manoos, he will have to aggressively pursue Hindutva to checkmate mighty BJP which is determined to make Shiv Sena politically irrelevant in Maharashtra.
However, in view of his new allies, the NCP and the Congress, Thackeray cannot dump secularism which was accepted by the saffron party in the common minimum programme at the time of formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in November 2019. So he will have to strike a balance between Hindutva and secularism in broadening the party’s base.
He will have to devote more time in protecting the party’s symbol and identity being claimed by the rebel Shiv Sena group. The fight is inevitable at the level of the Election Commission.
He faces an acid test in the upcoming election to the BMC, which the Shiv Sena ruled for over 25 years. This is when the estranged ally BJP, which will now be the ruler in Maharashtra, has geared up its preparations for the BMC election under the Mission 2022 with a resolve to unseat Sena and hoist the BJP atop the BMC. Thackeray will have to gear up outreach not only with Marathi Manoos but the Hindi speaking population residing, especially in Mumbai suburbs and under the BJP’s influence.
Further, Thackeray, who was blamed by rebel MLAs for listening to the coterie, will have to build up a new team by giving them due importance and recognition in the functioning of party organisation. He will have to achieve a proper mix between the old guards and new faces in a serious bid to lure youths, the working class, Muslims and non-Marathi people.
For that Thackeray will have to drastically change his present style of functioning, especially operating from Matoshree, but give more time mingling with Shiv Sainiks and people at large at Shiv Sena Bhavan. He will have to use his leadership and administrative skills to put in place an aggressive strategy to win a perception war against the BJP.
Amid rapid urbanisation, Thackeray will have to step up efforts to increase the Sena’s presence in rural Maharashtra and fight local and civic body elections and also polls in the cooperative sector with a military-like precision planning to compete with the BJP. The real challenge will be to increase its tally in both Lok Sabha and state assembly, weathering Modi charisma.
