In the pale shadow of Bal Thackeray’s enduring legacy

been visible to all and sundry. For example, when the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992, he was quick to claim the credit on behalf of his Shiv Sainiks, knowing full well that not a single Sena leader or worker had been present in Ayodhya on the day of the demolition because they had quarrelled with the BJP the previous day and left in a huff. Only when he thought he could get into trouble with the courts did he withdraw the claim. But he suffered no consequence for that flip-flop, either among the people or with his alliance partner.

However, now as his son and political heir Uddhav plans to storm Ayodhya later this month with a lot of Shiv Sainiks in tow, I wonder if the flogging of an old and tired horse will help the Sena gallop to victory as it did in the 1990s.

Bal Thackeray had benefited from those false claims of demolishing the mosque not once, but twice over. There was a Hindu consolidation behind the Sena but even Muslims in the state decided they were better off making friends with the Shiv Sena than inviting the party’s wrath again.

But that was because then the Congress was no alternative and Gujarat 2002 had not yet happened. Uddhav knows well how his party lost their Muslim vote simply for being in alliance with the BJP. Now I am surprised he should attempt to raise the rhetoric on an issue that even the BJP is afraid of taking up openly. The Rashtriya Swamyamsevak Sangh (RSS) itself has outsourced the Ram Mandir issue to the sants and seers of Ayodhya while the government, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been silent on the Supreme Court’s decision to postpone the hearing to January next year.

Then again, Bal Thackeray was comfortable in his skin as a ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ (emperor of Hindu hearts) in the 1990s and today that title is clearly Modi’s. Uddhav, given the way the Shiv Sena has waxed and waned on various issues in the past five years, seems like neither fish nor fowl nor even a red herring.

One would have thought he had mastered the art of eating his cake and having it too, being in government and acting as the opposition. But mixing the mandir-masjid issue with the legitimate issues he has taken up in the past could have a boomerang factor he may not have reckoned with so far.