On the evening of Gudi Padwa on April 9, when the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief, Raj Thackeray announced extending his ‘unconditional’ support to the Mahayuti coalition— the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, it drew flak by his own party members. Most of them said they did not expect such a U-turn from their leader, especially, for Narendra Modi’s ‘polarised’ BJP.
A day later, MNS general secretary, Kirtikumar Shinde shared a long post on Meta (Facebook) declaring his resignation from the party.
“Alvida MNS! (Goodbye MNS!) The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena decided to extend its unconditional support to the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP’s Mahayuti. Neither do we want Rajya Sabha nor a place in the Legislative Council nor any other negotiations. This support is only for Narendra Modi…” MNS chief Rajsaheb Thackeray expressed his thoughts during the Gudi Padwa rally. His political moves have come an ‘unfathomable’ full circle.
Five years ago, in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rajsaheb Thackeray had launched a tirade against BJP-Modi-Shah which was a very important time (politically) for me. During those days, I used to attend his rallies where he campaigned ‘laav re toh video’ (play that video). After his rallies, I used to write detailed articles giving facts and the thoughts he expressed against BJP-Modi-Shah and made sincere efforts to convey his stand to more and more people,” his message read.
Speaking about his post, Mr. Shinde said, “Today, after five years, at the most crucial moment in the history of the country, Rajsaheb changed his political stance. Political analysts will tell how wrong or right he is. Unfortunately, in the current political scenario, leaders play the political role they want, whenever they want. But the karyakartas (party workers) who believe in their ideology are crushed.”
Calling out the BJP, “In the last 10 years and especially in the last five years, the BJP-Modi-Shah (BhaMoSha) has destroyed the country. Claiming to have set up a transparent form of governance, ‘BhaMoSha’ has gotten the dictatorship deeply rooted in our system. ED, CBI and Income Tax probes are being used like washing machines to force political opponents to submission. Those who agree with the views of ‘BhaMoSha’ are patriots and real Hindus whereas those who go against, are traitors or non-Hindus,” he said.
Rajsaheb Thackeray’s decision to support ‘BhaMoSha’ could be in his interest, but the decision will in no way benefit Maharashtra and the Marathi Manoos (native Marathi), Mr. Shinde said.
“His decision may be right in this power play for the survival of MNS and himself, but that does not make his stance correct,” he added.
Party workers at MNS on anonymity told The Hindu, that the party at present is clouded with confusion. “Confusion is at the highest peak right now in MNS. In the last two months, there have been hush-hush talks among us (party workers) that Mr. Thackerey is probably planning to tie up with the BJP,” a worker said.
Workers also said that there were four MNS party meetings before Gudi Padwa but not even once, did the MNS chief mention his discussion with the BJP. “Even though we sensed something was off, we felt shocked and disappointed to hear him praise Mr. Modi. . In 2009 there were 13 MLA seats, 2014 had 1 and 2019 again had just 1 seat. There is a gradual decline in the party. MNS’s visibility has gone down, people have drifted away from him because of not taking a strong stance,” said an office-bearer at the party.
Another party worker pointed out the change of the party flag and how it was an indication of submitting to the Hindutva ideology. “When the party was formed, the party flag had blue, white, orange and green colours that stood Dalit community, peace, Hindutva and green for the Muslim community. In short, a secular and inclusive party flag. In 2020, the flag went to all saffron with an administrate seal that Maratha warrior Shivaji used.”
The MNS chief has called for a party meeting on April 13 to discuss further plans to work together with BJP alliance.
MNS spokespersons refused to respond on the matter.
