Add to that their ‘perpetual feud’ – bitter, and toxic. At least Narayan Rane has never missed an opportunity to string Uddhav Thackeray up for ridicule, with insult for requiem! Ten days before Rane led with the “tight slap if I was there” comment, the newly installed central minister had called Uddhav Thackeray a “buddhu chief minister”, one with no vision for Maharashtra.

Then, he escaped retribution. The Chief Minister, who, according to Rane, “prefers to remain in his cage”, took the insult in his stride. But this time, Rane crossed all limits. Rane was forever joking about Thackeray’s cognitive abilities. A Rajya Sabha MP and a former Shiv Sainik, who was close to Balasaheb Thackeray, Rane was loath to acknowledge the younger Thackeray’s leadership. Uddhav’s cousin, tough guy Raj Thackeray was more his style and temperament.

Don’t forget Narayan Rane was Maharashtra Chief Minister in 1999, but only for a short time. Today, he’s the first ever Union Minister to get arrested – a dubious distinction that he’ll carry to the ‘hereafter’. Rane’s problem is umbilical! He just cannot cut himself loose from the Shiv Sena, no matter how many parties he switches. His tough manner and eviscerating tongue do not help matters much.

In fact, if there’s one person all Shiv Sainiks hate more than Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, it is Narayan Rane. The man lacks perspective, and also the very thing that he says Uddhav Thackeray doesn’t have – a vision. Rane has questioned Uddhav Thackeray’s intelligence more than once. Rane should have known, at least guessed, that threatening a “tight slap” against a Chief Minister could land him in a police station, at least, which it did for a short time.

Now, he is out on bail, the judge warning him not to repeat the “offence”, and asking him to “visit’ the police station on so and so dates! Does that count for humiliation? Maybe so, but the Bharatiya Janata Party is making it as if quite thrilled at where the “slap that wasn’t” has taken the BJP to. From having “nothing” to fight the forthcoming local body elections, to “we finally have something” – the near martyrdom of Narayan Rane.

Rane’s run-ins with Uddhav Thackeray are not new. In 2005, he reportedly “led a coup” against Uddhav Thackeray. In 1999, when he was Maharashtra Chief Minister, even then he wasn’t happy with Uddhav Thackeray. In fact, the day the Shiv Sena stops paying Narayan Rane attention will be the day of the political demise of Narayan Rane.

Narayan Rane has been condemned to constantly counter Uddhav Thackeray for his political survival! Will the “Thappad that wasn’t” and Rane’s arrest impact Maharashtra politics? The BJP may grandstand and showboat but, at the end of the day, the manner in which Rane was “handled” by the MVA Government is an insult to the Modi Government. To think that the mighty Narayan Rane is in the league of Arnab Goswami and Kangana Ranaut is shameful! It calls for, if not swift retribution, the next best thing – slow revenge. Forget it, it’s an effete Modi Government at the Centre.

There will be violence in Maharashtra’s streets. There is already violence in Maharashtra’s streets. Don’t forget, Rane, like most Sainiks, is a tough guy. He knows the Shiv Sena’s political culture rather well. He was once a feared opponent of the NCP and Congress. The “Thappad that wasn’t” now binds the MVA tighter than ever before in its short history. August 24 evening, Uddhav Thackeray’s actions against Rane were stoutly defended by both the Congress as well as the NCP.

The forthcoming Brihan Mumbai Corporation elections will be the litmus test for the BJP as well as the MVA. The renewed Rane-Uddhav feud will heighten the tussle, the ramifications of which will be seen on the ground in Mumbai; indeed, in the whole of Maharashtra. Which of two, the BJP or the MVA, wins Brihan Mumbai will set the tone and the twists for the rest of Maharashtra.

At the Centre, subsequent political actions of the Modi Government related to the “thappad that wasn’t” will impact politics, the immediate as well that during the run-up to the 2022 five states assembly elections. Opposition unity will get a boost. Uddhav Thackeray’s strongman image has strengthened him and will reflect on the 2024 prime ministerial stakes. Sanjay Raut will have more to say on that.

In the short as well as the long run, Narayan Rane has with a loose tongue made sure that Uddhav Thackeray is heard loud and clear. He should have met Taapsee Pannu, lead actress of Bollywood flick ‘Thappad’, and asked how it felt getting slapped in public. There’s no more violent an act than a slap to the face, and no bigger an insult than the one that splits the air! (IPA Service)