What do the 2 Dusshera rallies mean for Maha politics?

The Shinde faction put up an impressive show at Bandra Kurla Complex’s MMRDA grounds, and left no stone unturned to stake claim on the Sena legacy. In his 90-minute speech, Shinde made it clear that the ideology and party workers matter more than family name

Mumbai: A day after the two factions of Shiv Sena staged a massive show of strength in the Dusshera rallies organised in Mumbai on Wednesday, the obvious question was: Who put up a better show? Did CM Eknath Shinde’s rally have bigger attendance? Whose attack was sharper, Uddhav Thackeray’s or Shinde’s?

Mumbai, India - October 05, 2022: Shiv Sena's Dussehra rally led by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at Shivaji Park, Dadar, in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, October 05, 2022. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

But the big question remains: What do Wednesday’s rallies mean for state politics?

The BJP was quick to claim that Shinde’s rally was bigger and better.

“I would like to congratulate CM Shinde. He has shown whose party is the real Shiv Sena. The venue of his rally had double the capacity of Shivaji Park but it was packed,” said deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and advised Thackeray to change his script-writer as his speeches were sounding “repetitive”.

The opposition didn’t shy away from pulling the punches either. “He (Shinde) was reading the script written by the BJP to justify his betrayal (of the Shiv Sena),” state Congress chief Nana Patole said. Even Opposition leader in assembly Ajit Pawar took potshots over Shinde’s 90-minute speech saying, “Some speeches were really lengthy.” Shiv Sena leaders released a video showing empty chairs at the Shinde’s rally held at the MMRDA grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex, which showed people leaving the venue even as the CM spoke.

Shinde’s son, MP Shrikant Shinde, wrote an open letter to Thackeray and asked him why he targeted his 18 month-old son when Thackeray said, during his speech that the CM’s grandson was eyeing the post of a corporator. “Let him grow up,” Shrikant wrote on his social media page.

The Shinde faction put up an impressive show at Bandra Kurla Complex’s MMRDA grounds, and left no stone unturned to stake claim on the Sena legacy. In his 90-minute speech, Shinde made it clear that the ideology and party workers matter more than family name.

“This is not your private limited company. This party is built with the blood and sweat of lakhs of workers,” Shinde said as he targeted Uddhav Thackeray. His bid to take over the Sena legacy and defend the Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is what the BJP expects of him: damage and mninimise the Thackeray-led Sena. The show of strength was also aimed at reaching out to the Sena cadre and the party’s core support base.

“For a long time, Shiv Sena was our Achilles’ heel. Keeping the party with us was our political compulsion since we shared the same voter base but Thackeray did not want to toe our line. Since 2014, there were several occasions when dealing with him became tedious for us. Shinde has solved that problem. Thackeray has lost his influence. Over the next few years, he will have to battle it out with a clone organisation rather than us. Wednesday’s show is a prelude,” a senior BJP leader who did not want to be named, said.

“We will never dump Eknathrao Shinde. In Maharahtra, we have the government of Shiv Sena led by Shinde and BJP,” senior BJP leader and higher education minister Chandrakant Patil said on Thursday.

If BJP and Shinde faction were happy about the impact of their Dussehra rally, the mood in the rival camp was upbeat too. Thackeray-led Sena’s Shivaji Park rally showed the party may be down, but is not out.

The historic ground, where the party has traditionally held its rally since it was formed in 1966, was packed. According to party leaders, a majority of the crowd was from Mumbai. No MLA or MP joined the Shinde camp on Wednesday, despite claims by leaders.

What’s more, Thackeray seemed intent on his plan to reach out to a larger audience that would include Sena’s traditional support base as well as minorities and Dalits. Sushma Andhare, an activist from the Ambedkarite movement who joined the Sena, was given a chance to address the crowd as a frontline leader. During his speech, Thackeray reiterated that his Hindutva was inclusive and questioned the BJP and RSS over the acquittal of the men accused of raping Bilkis Bano during the Gujarat riots in 2002.

Thackeray also made it clear that he would continue to remain with the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, and his stand against the BJP has not changed. The fact that both the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have supported his candidate in Andheri East assembly by-election is an indication that the three-party coalition experiment in Maharashtra will continue, and remain a challenge for the BJP-Shinde faction alliance.

An immediate fight between Sena-led MVA and BJP-Shinde camp would be in the by-election scheduled to be held on November 3. It will be followed the civic polls which could be held towards the end of this year or early next year.

In a nutshell, the outcome from the Wednesday’s events is clear: The battle between the two sides is far from over. In fact, it has just become interesting.