However, the demonstrations called by the BJP against the Thackeray government for its “failure” to control the pandemic in Maharashtra evoked lukewarm response. Evidently, Thackeray’s acceptability among the people remains fairly high in his state and there are no reservations about his partnership with his new friends. There is little doubt that the BJP will be ruing its refusal to accept the Shiv Sena’s demand after the assembly elections to make Thackeray the chief minister.

For the present, the Shiv Sena leader has not only succeeded in holding together his hastily-put-together coalition with the NCP and Congress with little difficulty, no doubt with Sharad Pawar’s help, but has also shown a remarkable measure of coolness in dealing with an extremely menacing situation caused by the deadly virus. There is little to show in his attitude that he is new to the job and has had no administrative experience earlier at any level. It is possible that his relaxed, laid-back nature is enabling him to weather the storm in the maximum city which is under maximum stress because of Covid-19.

Having creditably passed the administrative and political test at the state level with a fair degree of success, Thackeray now faces the challenge of emerging as a leader in his own right at the national level. The task will not be easy since it is always difficult for a regional politician to make the grade as a widely acceptable all-India leader. Others have nurtured such ambitions but never seemed capable of measuring up to the requisite standards.

Among them are former U.P. chief ministers Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, both of whom chose to stay away from the conclave, thereby suggesting that they carry a chip on their shoulders which makes them unfit to play a conciliatory, mature role in an arena where the stakes are high. The same holds true for the West Bengal and Delhi chief ministers, Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, who look like politicians who will never be able to grow out of their provincial domains.

Thackeray is yet to show convincingly that he can leave his regional/parochial image behind which is also associated with his Hindutva worldview. Can the leader of Marathi manoos (people) and son of a Hindu hriday samrat (king of Hindu hearts) play a seminal political role in a famously diverse, multi-cultural, multi-lingual society where the Constitution shuns sectarianism? It has to be remembered, however, that the Shiv Sena’s sectarianism has always been an exercise in opportunism. Unlike the 95-year-old RSS, which is the BJP’s mentor, the 54-year-old Sena does not have a structured dogmatic animus towards a particular community. Instead, the party changes its targets from time to time.

When it was formed in the mid-1960s, the Sena exploited the angst of the sons of the soil over losing employment opportunities in Mumbai and elsewhere to outsiders such as the south Indians. So the “Madrasi” stenographers and restauranteurs came under fire. Then, the focus turned to the Muslims in tandem with the BJP, a ploy which led the two parties to the seat of power in Maharashtra in the 1990s. In three decades, the Sena had moved from the margins of politics to centre stage, facilitated by the Congress’s steady decline.

Another three decades later, is it ready to build on its Maharashtra base in order to play a national role ? The possibility is there if Thackeray can play his cards right. To do so, the Sena will not only have to comprehensively dump the BJP but also expose the latter’s Islamophobic, brahmin-bania agenda in right earnest. The Sena can do so more effectively than the “secular” parties because it understands the BJP’s mindset as a result of its long association with the party. The objective will be to undermine the BJP’s position in the state by highlighting its upper caste leanings which care little for the average Marathi manoos or other less privileged sections as has been revealed by the BJP’s callousness towards the migrant labourers.

The BJP’s use of the gubernatorial office to advance its own partisan cause is another aspect of its malign politics which the Sena can emphasize along with the saffron game plan of breaking rival organizations by luring away their MLAs. On both counts, the people of Maharashtra will be aware of the BJP’s recent clandestine role in the state, including a coup at the crack of dawn, which ultimately failed. A decline in the BJP’s standing will mean a gain for the Sena, and also for its present-day allies. If the Sena’s strategy succeeds, the chances of Thackeray playing an important role on a bigger stage will become increasingly bright.
(IPA Service)