Shivaji Park goes saffron, gives three cheers to the new combination

History unfolded at Shivaji Park, where the Shiv Sena was formed in 1966, again on Thursday as Uddhav Thackeray took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra, heading

History unfolded at Shivaji Park, where the Shiv Sena was formed in 1966, again on Thursday as Uddhav Thackeray took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra, heading the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, a coalition of the Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress. Flags — saffron, tri-colour and with the watch symbol — flew high, crackers were burst, and slogans were chanted as the assembled cadres of the three parties watched the MVA dislodge the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.

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Hundreds of buses and vehicles, mostly filled with Sena loyalists, along with farmers, rural and minority voters, and Congress and NCP workers, trooped in at Dadar for the event. A lot of Sena workers and followers came dressed as party founder Bal Thackeray, while others wore masks of Uddhav Thackeray. His oath-taking was welcomed with firecrackers and slogans like “Balasaheb Thackeray amar rahey”. As a part of the preparations, the Shiv Sena headquarters, Sena Bhavan, was decked up in the party colour, saffron, and decorated with flowers, while the city unit distributed sweets like pedha, barfi and laddoos to all.

While the audience also cheered for Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Raj Thackeray when he went on stage, the biggest applause was saved for Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the main architect of the alliance. The anger against the BJP was also on display as the audience shouted slogans against former chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who was present on the stage.

Kalyan resident Rahul Parab, 45, who has been a Sena office-bearer for the past five years, could not hold back his tears as Thackeray took the oath. “Balasaheb’s dream is finally fulfilled,” said Parab, who said he was grateful to the Sena for giving a government job to his father in the 80s. Balasaheb Kine, a resident of Shengaon, recalled memories of 1995 when the first Sena government was sworn in at the same place. “The stage is the same but the allies are different. That time, it was the BJP [as an ally] and now, it’s the Congress-NCP,” said Kine. He, however, expressed concern over the stability of the government. “We are dependent on Congress-NCP and this really worries me. This government can do wonders if it is allowed to last the whole term.”

People from the Muslim community were also present in the audience; many of them called Thackeray a “good man” for being able to unseat the BJP government. “We have never seen Thackeray discriminate against us and he has done commendable work for the farmers. Our main consolation is that this alliance will soften the Sena and they will protect our rights too,” said Rehmatullah Shaikh, who hails from Islampur, the constituency of NCP minister Jayant Patil.