The ruling Congress is unable to rein in the two Senas while the BJP, with the support of the RSS, has taken on the Sena for the first time openly. In short, they are all getting ready to face the 2012 Mumbai civic polls and the Bihar Assembly polls later this year.

The Sena lost Mumbai - its citadel -in the recent Assembly polls. The senior Thackeray is upset that his party did not win a single seat in Mumbai and has lost Thane, which it had held for four decades. What better way than to go back to the Marathi Manoos?

For the old timers, it is a replay of the sixties when Shiv Sena was formed with Bal Thackeray asking the “Lungiwallahs” to leave Mumbai so that the locals should get jobs. The trick was to publish the names of the South Indians from the telephone directory. He was able to hold the attention of the youth for the last five decades. In fact, the Thackeray senior as well as the junior fail to understand that the character of the Mumbai has changed so much now. Balashaheb is unable to digest that his own nephew Raj Thackeray, who is copying him to the hilt, may overtake him. The two Senas have held the city to ransom by attacking Biharis, Bangladeshis, Muslims, film stars and even cricketers all these years. They spread a message of hate and a narrow parochialism, which is abhorred by the rest of the country. But where were they at the time of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack? Like Rahul Gandhi has said, it was the North Indians who saved Mumbai.

The Sena is an old and time-tested ally of the BJP for more than 17 years and a senior partner of the BJP. After the humiliating defeat in the Assembly polls recently, the two parties have been sharpening their knives against each other. The BJP feels that the MNS has damaged the Sena while the Sena thinks that the BJP workers had not worked wholeheartedly. With the distrust growing, the rift was bound to widen sooner or later.

In the past the Sena has embarrassed the BJP by its strident stand. For instance, the rift surfaced when the Sena chose to vote for Pratibha Patil in the presidential elections ignoring the BJP candidate Shekhawat. The BJP supports the statehood for Vidarbha while Sena opposes it. The senior and the junior Thackeray believe in shocking the people by their parochial statements. The Sena had to backtrack when it took on cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on his statement that Mumbai is part of India. Over the past few days Balasaheb has criticised Mukesh Ambani and objected to Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's statement on IPL.

The two parties have changed over the years. The BJP is a national party while the Sena remains a regional party. The BJP had to put its core issues on the back burner while Sena had no such compulsion. There is a leadership change in the BJP whereas Balasaheb has retained his hold on the Sena for more than five decades. The equation between the BJP and Sena also has changed gradually. There is a leadership change in the RSS too. By coincidence, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, BJP chief Nitin Ghatkari as well as Thackeray all belong to Maharashtra. If it suits the Sena to play upon the regional sentiments, precisely for the same reason it does not suit the BJP or the RSS with their national outlook.

The recent spat between the RSS and the BJP on the Mumbai for Mumbaikars has put the BJP in a spot. It needed a Mohan Bhagwat to step in and put things in perspective. It was Bhagwat who called on his RSS Sewaks to protect North Indians in Mumbai. The RSS and the BJP have a larger arena to cover in North India. The Maharashtra politics will have its spillover in Bihar as the JD (U) is already in trouble within its own ranks. The BJP also has to think of the elections in Bihar this year. It is necessary for the BJP to keep the JD (U) in the NDA. Also, at the ground level, there is no love lost between the BJP and the Sena workers. But still they have made the alliance work.

The latest controversy, raked up by the Maharashtra government's move to give new taxi permits only to those who can read, write and speak Marathi, shows the political game of the Congress. Chief minister Ashok Chavan quickly reversed his decision but the damage has already been done. The Congress is looking to the Municipal Corporation polls and the vote bank.

Why is Maratha strongman and NCP chief Sharad Pawar keeping mum? Is the NCP hunting with the hound and running with the hare? The Centre and the state government must wake up and bring back normalcy in Mumbai, and make sure that Indians can live anywhere in the country. It is not enough to make weak statements; what is needed is determined action. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan should show his mettle now instead of looking weak and helpless. The whole country is behind him if he takes action. (IPA Service)