Narayan Rane’s son Nitesh Rane mentions as much in an interview to a magazine published from Delhi, while suggesting that it would do well for Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra’s MSMEs if Thackeray changed his behaviour towards the BJP, particularly towards “Mr. Narayan Rane”.

Now, whoever was it who gave Nitesh Rane the power to set the MSME policy for Maharashtra? Can the son stand-in for his minister father? Nitesh Rane also challenged Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut to “spill Mr. Narayan Rane’s secrets”, promising that what’ll be spilled in return will spell the end of Shiv Sena.

If people haven’t noticed, these days of BJP rule, avenge and revenge have become common currency. Whether it’s the BJP’s dealings in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena, or if it’s got something to do with farmers’ protests in Punjab and Haryana, the ‘kisan’ in Uttar Pradesh, there’s an all-pervading culture of revenge. Tit for tat, and the people can take the bone, like the dog in the kennel, worry on it, and be happy!

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, governance has taken a back seat, and vengeance has taken centre-stage. Like the child in Pakistan who says he wants to grow up so that he can exact revenge against India for breaking Pakistan into two in 1971. Except that Pakistan and India are enemies, and the people of Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and UP are not.

How can Nitesh Rane, and Narayan Rane - indeed, the Modi Government – think of doing nothing for Maharashtra’s MSMEs just because the BJP and Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane have scores to settle with Uddhav Thackeray, and the Maha Vikas Aghadi government? Unbelievable.

Citizens cannot be made to suffer just because one leader has been slighted, or one leader holds a grudge against another. It’s public knowledge that Narayan Rane holds a grudge against Uddhav Thackeray, and maybe vice versa. For whatever reason, Narayan Rane hates Uddhav Thackeray’s guts. And it’s not recent hate.

Narayan Rane’s hate for Uddhav Thackeray has been stewing under the skin for decades. It will take a psychiatrist to rip out the reason. But that doesn’t mean Rane can hold Maharashtra’s MSMEs to ransom! Don’t forget, India’s industries are majority unorganized and overwhelmingly MSME.

India’s migrant workers live off MSMEs. For how long will the migrant workers from all over India, for whom Maharashtra is ‘karmabhoomi’, be deprived of their chance to a good and content life just because Narayan Rane and the BJP have an axe to grind, and reason to see Uddhav Thackeray “slapped” silly?

In the BJP’s ‘Book of Revenge & Avenge’, Uddhav Thackeray fits the bill. He and his party, his government, even his son and wife, are fair targets. Doesn’t matter who and what comes in the way. For the BJP, Shiva Sena betrayed and backstabbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP after 30 years of live-in relationship.

And Narayan Rane is a handy Member of Parliament to stick the knife into the Sena’s side. One, Rane has visceral hatred for Uddhav Thackeray. Two, Narayan Rane wants to be Maharashtra CM a second time. Three, the BJP wants the coffers of Brihan Mumbai Corporation (BMC), the richest municipality in all of Asia, under its thumb.

So long as there was an alliance with the Shiva Sena, there was a BJP finger in the BMC pie. But that went with the alliance when the Sena split with the BJP. Now, the BJP wants the BMC “back”. The BMC’s riches are too big to be given away without a fight, however ugly the fight might be.

And the BMC elections are not too far away. Narayan Rane knows this, and Uddhav Thackeray is aware of the stakes. The BJP, and the Shiva Sena and the MVA, all three are aware that whoever gets hold of the BMC's piggy-bank will get to hold Maharashtra’s purse-strings. Narayan Rane must be slurping in his sleep dreaming of BMC’s billions.

But the question is, can a government hold to ransom the people just because it’s got a score to settle with somebody, a political party or a particular politician? Whether it’s Maharashtra, or Haryana or Punjab, the Modi Government, it seems, cannot divorce itself from an entitlement for revenge.

In Haryana, the other day, August 29, 2021, the Karnal district magistrate is heard telling police to “break the heads” of protesting farmers, which the police tried their best to do, and succeeded, too. One farmer “returned home” and “died in his sleep”, and there’s a mighty hue and cry: What did he die of in his sleep? On August 30, roads across Punjab were choked and blocked.

The Mayor of Kanpur has lodged a complaint against Uddhav Thackeray and promised to “punch him senseless” if he ever set foot in UP. Uddhav allegedly threatened to beat up Yogi Adityanath with a “slipper” about three years ago, and treatment meted out to Narayan Rane opened old wounds. And just so that nobody misunderstands, the Enforcement Directorate has filed a case against Anil Parab, a Shiv Sainik and minister in the Uddhav Thackeray Government. Like said, governance is at an ebb ever since farmers protested, and the Sena revolted. (IPA Service)