Whether one likes it or not, the 'Brand Thackeray' has ruled India's financial capital for almost five decades.
The power of this brand was primarily political but it was coming through the invisible yet complete control over socio-cultural happenings of Mumbai.
But now this looks changing. Uddhav Thackeray is struggling to regain the legacy in city politics whereas Raj is playing second fiddle to the BJP. All this leads to a single point question. What will happen to the 'Brand Thackeray?'
'Brand Thackeray'
The 'Brand Thackeray' came into existence in Mumbai during the formation of Maharashtra. Prabodhankar Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, father of Bal Thackeray and grandfather of Uddhav, was a leading figure in the independent Maharashtra movement.
His legacy was later turned into a political outfit - Shiv Sena founded by Bal Thackeray on 19th June 1966. Since then, Thackeray has controlled the political imagination of the city.
Though Shiv Sena was established in 1966, it took them 19 years to get the city’s mayor post. Chhagan Bhujbal became the first mayor of Mumbai by Sena in 1985. Since 1995, the party has been in power in the municipality.
Electoral politics was not the only reason
But, electoral politics was not the only reason that Thackeray was having control over the city. The political power was coming through two major channels. One was the street power of Shiv Sena. Party's cadre was aggressive, sometimes violent and mainly available 24x7. This gave Shiv Sena a very strong presence in hook and corner of the city.
The another reason for Shiv Sena supremacy was its control over cultural politics. Sena supremo Bal Thackeray has personal rapport with many artists, actors and actresses in Hindi as well as Marathi cinema and theaters and at the same time authors too. This cultural politics gave him a position on 'voice of Marathi Manoos' which ultimately created 'Brand Thackeray'.
Embraced Hindutva first in 1986
Later Bal Thackeray changed his track from Marathi regional politics to Hindu supremacist politics. He embraced Hindutva first in 1986 in Vile Parle by polls. But that did not deter his brand. Over the period 'Brand Thackeray' became powerful. When Shiv Sena was part of the union government in 1996 (for 13 days) and from 1997 to 2004, this brand became bigger. He was also de-facto leader of Shiv Sena-BJP alliance that was ruling Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999 and Mumbai from 1995 till his death.
Challenges before ‘Brand Thackeray’
It is not like that the Brand Thackeray never faced challenges. When leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal and Narayan Rane left the party, Thackeray was under the line of fire. It got the biggest jolt when Raj Thackeray, nephew of Bal Thackeray and similarly charismatic leader left the party to found its own. This damaged Shiv Sena in 2009 assembly elections as well as 2012 municipality elections. But Brand Thackeray lost only political power. Bal Thackeray was still the bigger brand like before.
The death of Bal Thackeray gradually changed the situation. First jolt came to Matoshree when BJP fought the 2014 assembly elections independently and had more seats than Thackeray. That time Uddhav Thackeray had to keep his self respect aside to join the BJP government. This was the first incident when Thackeray played second fiddle to BJP in Maharashtra. Since then, BJP is doing everything under the sun to keep its upper hand in this relationship.
In 2019, to leave BJP's fold for once and always, Uddhav joined hands with Congress and NCP. But he couldn't hold the power. His own partymen ditched him and again BJP established that it is having iron hand control on the politics now. Later on Uddhav lost the party also to his own second rank leader Eknath Shinde. In all this, BJP's hand is not hidden. On the other hand, Raj Thackeray also tried to challenge the BJP through campaigning in the 2019 LS elections. But he failed. Later on, he is somehow adjusting himself with the BJP since then.
All these developments have clearly shown that BJP - once a second fiddle of Thackeray - is big boss now. It has successfully challenged the Brand Thackeray in Mumbai as well as state politics. If Uddhav fails to retain BMC in coming elections then the Brand Thackeray will lose its complete shine and value from state as well as national politics for forever.
