Pundits: Personal Ambition, Ideological Oscillation Led to Political Crisis in India’s Maharashtra

India's Shiv Sena (Lord Shiva's army), formed in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, is largely viewed as an ultranationalist political party and follows the Hindutva ideology, promoting Hinduism. Its functionaries are known as 'Shiv Sainiks' (Shiva's soldiers).

The Indian state of Maharashtra is witnessing a historic political crisis after Eknath Shinde, a cabinet minister in the Shiv Sena party-led state government, walked away with a significant number of lawmakers.

The Shinde-led rebellion has not only put the state government in jeopardy but the Thackeray family, which founded the Shiv Sena and evolved it into one of the strongest political parties in Maharashtra, today appears to be losing its grip on it.

Ever since the party was formed, the Thackeray family has been leading it, but now Shinde has written a letter to Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra State Assembly Narhari Zirawal regarding the reaffirmation of his appointment as the leader of Shiv Sena Legislature Party. Shinde has also requested for appointing Bharatshet Gogawale as the Chief Whip, claiming that he has support of more than 40 lawmakers.

Sputnik spoke to political analysts to discuss the reasons behind the political crisis, how it could have been avoided and its impact on Maharashtra's political landscape.

Reasons Behind Rebellion

“I think Shiv Sena witnessed a compete 180 degree overhaul in 2019 when they broke the 30-year-old alliance with BJP over the post of State Chief and formed a new alliance with Congress and NCP in 2019. This has completely shaken up the party,” political analyst Shekhar Iyer told Sputnik.

He said that the new alliance has put the Shiv Sainiks in a catch-22 situation as their former ally (BJP) was the new enemy and their old enemy (Congress) was new ally. “The party leadership didn’t give a thought to the factor how it will work down the line,” he added.

Shiv Sena called off the alliance with BJP after of 2019 Maharashtra State Assembly elections over the post of State Chief.

Uddhav didn’t want to play second fiddle to BJP in state politics as his party, since the days of late Bal Thackeray, has been one of the strongest political party in the state.

Citing another reason, Iyer said that the distance between Uddhav and party workers increased after he became the State Chief.

“Uddhav’s style of functioning didn’t go well with his party workers as well as allies. There were a lot of complaints against him that he is not accessible and out of communication. He didn’t realize that his own party was upset with him,” he stated.

Notably, it was for the first time that a Shiv Sena head has become the State Chief.

The party's founder, the late Bal Thackeray, never took any official post in the government, but rather he decided to head the party so that he can be in touch with the rank and file.

Adding to the points of Iyer, another political analyst Vinod Kumar Shukla told Sputnik: “Apart from this, Uddhav tried to take the dynastic politics to the next level by trying to promote his son Aditya Thackeray.”

When Shiv Sena broke the three-decade long alliance with BJP, some media reports said that Uddhav also wished to secure the future of his son Aditya Thackeray, and he even tried to pitch him for the post of State Chief.

He made the same the pitch to the new allies (Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). But NCP chief Sharad Pawar denied it saying that this won’t be acceptable to his party, media reports said.

“Senior members of the party were extremely unhappy with the decision to push Aditya ahead of them. They had put in their blood and sweat for the party and were not ready to accept a novice above them,” Shukla stated.

“Also there were complaints that Uddhav was controlled by a coterie consisting his family members, leaders of the allies and Sanjay Raut while Shiv Sainiks were left out. So, a lot of personal ambition of Uddhav and his family contributed in the rebellion,” Shukla added.

Ideological Apprehension

Shiv Sena was founded upon the idea of Hindutva and ever since its formation it has been raising the issue ferociously.

Party founder Bal Thackeray was a staunch Hindu leader and was also described by many of his admirers as “Hindu Hriday Samrat” (Monarch of the Hindu Hearts).

The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance was also on the same lines. However, ever since the alliance was called off, BJP has been accusing Shiv Sena of forgetting the ideals on which Bal Thackeray founded the party. This became evident when the party became conscious on the issues related to Hindutva.

“Some of the party members started realizing that the purpose for which the alliance was formed was not yielding them dividends. They started feeling that the party was getting weak on its basic principle and compromising a lot,” Iyer said.

He further said that Shiv Sena’s voter base is essentially Hindutva voters and there was a pressure on the party members (since coming into an alliance with Congress and the NCP) not to be aggressive on Hindutva.

“They were even told not to speak much about Ayodhya (the birth place of Lord Ram). Even Shinde in one of his letters had said that while party members were not given permission to visit Ayodhya but Aditya was given the permission to go. This shows that the party was compromising on Hindutva issue,” he added.

Echoing the views of Iyer, Shukla said: “the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance has worked for three decades because they aligned to the principle of Hindutva and shared the same voter base. However, with a lot of civic elections approaching in different areas of Maharashtra, Sena lawmakers have started feeling that with the NCP and Congress in a coalition, they won’t be able to win the elections because their voters base is not related to Hindus and Muslims won’t vote for Sena.”

Both Iyer and Shukla said that the personal ambitions of Uddhav and the ideological oscillation after the new alliance which led to the current political crisis in Maharashtra..

Shiv Sena Faces Fourth Rebellion in 56 Years

Although the current rebellion has shaken the Shiv Sena, it's not the first time that the party has faced a revolt. However, this is being seen as the biggest one as it has a direct impact on the Thackeray family’s dominance over the party.

The three previous rebellions occurred in the presence of late party founder late Bal Thackeray. But he had somehow managed to keep the party cadre together.

The first rebellion took place in 1991, when the then Other Backward Class (OBC) face of the party Chhagan Bhujbal along with 18 other lawmakers left the party and joined the then ruling Congress. However, 12 of the 18 lawmakers returned to the party's fold on the same day.

In 2003, the ex-State Chief Narayan Rane challenged the party’s decision to appoint Uddhav Thackeray as party’s executive president”.

As a result, he was expelled from the party by Bal Thackeray in 2005. He went on to join Congress. In 2017, he joined the BJP and currently serves as a federal minister.

This third rebellion was by Uddhav Thackeray’s cousin Raj Thackeray in 2006. Raj left Shiv Sena and formed his own political party – Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) – citing that those surrounding the party leadership were not letting others in.