BJP shoots itself in the foot in Maharashtra

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) eagerness to return to power in Maharashtra has landed it in an unholy mess. Had the party reconciled itself to a three-party government of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress – a three-wheeled vehicle as the BJP now mockingly calls it - the party could have waited for it to fail before staking claim for a government of its own. But by deciding to rush ahead to swear in Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister, on the basis of a dodgy document produced by the NCP’s Ajit Pawar promising the support of his MLAs, the BJP drove coach and horses through constitutional norms and brought lasting infamy to itself.

Nothing demonstrated more starkly the BJP’s desperation than the use of a special constitutional provision to revoke President’s rule in the state at 5:47 a.m. on Saturday (November 23) and then swear-in Fadnavis a couple of hours later. The party was in such a tearing hurry that the customary invitations to VIPs to attend the ceremony were not sent out and not even an official broadcaster, like Doordarshan, was called to record the proceedings.

Maharashtra acquired a new government in a virtually empty hall in Mumbai’s Raj Bhavan with the governor, chief minister and his deputy, Ajit Pawar, being the dignitaries present. It lasted three days.

The constitutional provision which facilitated this cloak-and-dagger operation obviated the need for securing the Union cabinet’s approval recommending the end of President’s rule to the President, Ramnath Kovind.

The murky nature of the operation had also been accentuated by the hide-and-seek game that was being played by the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress by transporting their legislators from one hotel to another to forestall any attempt by the BJP to lure them away to the ruling party’s camp.

But the vaudeville ended when Ajit Pawar had a change of heart and switched sides again, leaving Fadnavis high and dry. The winner in this engrossing, though not edifying, spectacle was the NCP strong man, Sharad Pawar, the 79-year-old Maratha warrior, who appears on the verge of beginning a new political innings as the doughty leader of an anti-BJP front, leaving others, especially Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, far behind.

And the loser is Amit Shah, the apparently invincible strategist who was threatening to consolidate the BJP’s stranglehold on the political scene with victories from panchayats to parliament, as he asserted.

After the party’s setback in Maharashtra, and also in Haryana where it failed to get a majority, questions will be asked whether the BJP’s electoral chariot is grinding to a halt.

The main reason behind the BJP’s unholy manoeuvres was to teach its former ally, the Shiv Sena, a lesson for having broken the alliance with its demand for an arrangement of rotational chief ministers with the Sena having the first shot for twoand-a-half years.

As for the Shiv Sena, it was becoming increasingly exasperated by the BJP’s growing clout in Maharashtra which the Sena tends to regard as its own bailiwick. Having lost its earlier No. 1 position in the state, the Sena was waiting for an opportunity to hit back at Big Brother.

The fall in the BJP’s number of seats from 122 five years ago to 105 this time handed the Sena a chance to flex its muscles by demanding the CM’s post for the first twoand-a-half years.

Although a few like the BJP MP, Subramanian Swamy, favoured a conciliation for the sake of Hindutva, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief, Mohan Bhagwat, said that selfishness will hurt both the parties, the BJP’s hubris did not allow it to bend. The party probably believed that the seemingly irreconcilable differences between its three adversaries would prevent them from banding together.

What must have unsettled the BJP was the relative ease with which the three came to an understanding. It was then that the BJP decided to strike. But, now that its shot has misfired, it will have the mortification of seeing yet another dynasty – of the Thackerays - wrest one of India’s foremost states from its grasp. Even as Uddhav Thackeray (with his son, Aditya in tow) settles down to preside over the country’s financial capital and the home of Bollywood, he will undoubtedly bank on the experience of the Sharad Pawar dynasty to run the state.

And the loser is Amit Shah, the apparently invincible strategist who was threatening to consolidate the BJP’s stranglehold on the political scene with victories from panchayats to parliament, as he asserted. After the party’s setback in Maharashtra, and also in Haryana where it failed to get a majority, questions will be asked whether the BJP’s electoral chariot is grinding to a halt