THACKERAY VS THACKERAYS
Like in his lifetime, the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray still looms large over the political landscape of Maharashtra, with the ruling BJP-Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS) coalition trying to challenge the claim of former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residuary Shiv Sena over the Thackeray legacy. Current CM and Sena dissident Eknath Shinde is now using estranged members of the Thackeray clan to support his claim of being the true inheritor of the Sena legacy, and isolate Uddhav, Bal Thackeray’s son and heir and president of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray). The reasons are obvious—the late Shiv Sena chief continues to command a talismanic pull over the party faithful.
This fight is expected to intensify in the run-up to the crucial elections to local bodies—including the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)—due this year, and eventually the 2024 Lok Sabha and state assembly polls. Shinde is also locked in a legal battle with Uddhav’s faction over the name and the ‘bow-and-arrow’ symbol of the original Shiv Sena. The CM and the BJP claim Uddhav has “betrayed” the Hindutva ideology espoused by his father by allying with the “secular” Congress and NCP for the sole reason of becoming chief minister (as head of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi rainbow coalition) in 2019.
Shinde is also using the aura of his late political mentor ‘Dharmaveer’ Anand Dighe aka ‘Dighe saheb’, who held undisputed sway over the Shiv Sena’s affairs in Mumbai’s satellite city Thane—and was known for his active role in mobilisation during communal conflicts—to drive his message home. In fact, the May 2022 release of Dharmaveer, a biopic on Dighe, had preceded Shinde’s midnight revolt (in June 2022). Shinde’s rebellion led to a vertical split in the Shiv Sena legislative and parliamentary party, with 40 of
56 MLAs and 13 of 19 Lok Sabha MPs joining his faction, later named BSS.
On January 23, the late Sena supremo’s 97th birth anniversary, members of the Thackeray family like Jaidev Thackeray (second son), Smita Thackeray (Jaidev’s second wife), Anuradha Thackeray (Jaidev’s third wife), Nihar Thackeray (grandson via the deceased eldest son, Bindumadhav) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray (nephew), were present at a function to unveil Balasaheb’s portrait in the Maharashtra legislature. Uddhav was notably absent despite being invited for the event. Chandrakant Vaidya, the maternal uncle of the Thackeray cousins (Uddhav and Raj are first cousins twice over), was also present along with a prominent Sena rebel—Union minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane. Though they did not take Uddhav’s name, there was no doubt who Shinde, Rane and Raj were taking potshots at in their speeches.
After Shinde toppled Uddhav to become the CM, Smita, Nihar and Jaidev came forward to support him. Nihar, a lawyer, is also part of Shinde’s legal team in the Supreme Court where the Sena vs Sena battle is being fought. Shinde has also drawn into his fold Champa Singh Thapa, the helper and shadow of the Sena founder, and Moreshwar Raje, who was Thackeray Sr’s personal secretary for almost 35 years. Incidentally, Uddhav kept away from the event in Vidhan Bhawan but attended a function to offer floral tributes to Bal Thackeray’s life-size statue near the Regal Cinema in Colaba, which is just a km away.
In an obvious reference to the attempts by the BJP and BSS to appropriate his father, Uddhav, who later addressed a party rally at Sion in central Mumbai, dared Shinde to use a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi—who had incidentally soft-launched the coalition’s election campaign for the BMC polls days earlier—instead of one of Bal Thackeray to seek votes. “Even if Modi is around, you have accepted that you cannot get votes in Maharashtra without Balasaheb…we are ready, you use Modi’s photo and we will use that of our leader Balasaheb. Let us see who Maharashtra supports,” said Uddhav.
But Kiran Pawaskar, ex-MLC and BSS secretary and spokesperson, says the drift of his kin towards the other side “proves Uddhav has not succeeded as a leader, as CM, as party president or even as a family elder. It is telling that Uddhav’s nephew [Nihar] is appearing against him in the SC on behalf of Eknath Shinde,” says
That said, Uddhav’s corner also has a few Thackerays. His cousin Kirti Pathak, the daughter of Bal Thackeray’s younger sister Sanjeevani Karandikar, and Jaydeep Thackeray, who is Jaidev’s son from his first wife Jayashree Kalelkar, have come out in his support. Pathak is also a member of the Shiv Sena women’s wing. It has also been pointed out that those throwing in their lot with Shinde had been estranged from ‘Matoshree,’ the Thackeray residence in Bandra (East) during Bal Thackeray’s lifetime. For instance, Smita had quit Matoshree in 2008 after she was overlooked for a Rajya Sabha nomination. Says a senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, “They are trying new tricks since the MNS seems to have run its course. They want to make it look like Uddhav is isolated, that even his kin have deserted him. But the MNS could not swing the loyal Sena vote even in its heyday.”
Senior journalist Sandeep Pradhan says what emerges from the soap-operatic tussle is “that the BJP and Shinde have realised they can’t break this political stalemate without the support of at least a few Thackerays. So, they are trying to take along even apolitical members of the clan to send across a message that Uddhav is isolated among his family”. Pradhan also notes that Bal Thackeray had anointed Uddhav as his successor in his last days, so that gives him an edge as far as political legitimacy goes. ■