BJP's Maha Folly

Now that the dust has settled on the Maharashtra political ruckus and govt formation, we can look at events and history a bit more calmly. The Shiv Sena (SS) has formed a govt with Congress and NCP. I am not concerned with how long it will last. What this post is concerned with is the poor foresight and wisdom among BJP leaders in allying with the two-bit SS in the first place. It is not “Mahayuti” as they call it but “Mahamoronery” to say the least. The BJP doesn’t learn from history it seems. But before all that, there are also equal number of morons among the RW who still think SS was a Hindutva party that has changed stripes, that Bal Thackeray (BT) was a Hindutva icon and all that rubbish. Let’s get some understanding of history first.

The SS was formed in 1966 with the help of Congress and Bombay industrialists to combat Commie unions in Bombay. BT added another ingredient to it called “Aamchi Mumbai” and non-Marathis to get out. Therefore, the first assault by SS was on Commie union leaders and the non-Marathis (South Indians, Bengalis etc). Many non-Marathi families were violently attacked and driven out of Mumbai. Majority of these families were obviously Hindus. The culmination of this violent cult resulted in the murder of a Commie union leader and MLA Krishna Desai for which over a dozen SS men were convicted. BT was not charged or implicated in this. It is this cult of violence, fear-mongering that made BT a “force” in Mumbai and not any political ideology and the term “Hindutva” was hardly in the political lexicon back then. Politicians, Cops and other local entities developed a fear of BT for his “Disruptive” capabilities. Thus, whether in power or not, BT could influence political events and outcomes and politicians genuflected before him at Matoshree. He became “Sarkar” as the movie projected him.

It is only towards the late 1980s that BT understood that violence isn’t paying politically and his party got nowhere that he sobered it down and started becoming more of a “politician”. This sobering down took on a more “patriotic” flavour. Remember, in 1991 SS men dug up the Wankhede pitch to prevent a match with Pakistan which thrilled the Hindus. As the Hindutva movement, led by LK Advani started gaining ground, BT’s clothes also changed from white to “Saffron”. By mid-90s BJP started winning some elections here and there and for the first time the SS-BJP combined came to power in 1995 in Maha and Manohar Joshi became CM. By 1995 BJP also got its permanent footing in Gujarat and became a political force. Later on, AB Vajpayee would become PM and BJP kept rising as a national party while SS remained a local party Mumbai Municipality. This dwindled the dominance of SS vs BJP. Thus, from a dominant partner, SS had become a “sidekick” that had lesser influence on BJP. In time to come, Narendra Modi became a nationally popular force and that finally asserted BJP’s supremacy over SS in Maha politics, as in many other states.

By the 1990s, BT who was just known as “Bal Thackeray” came to be respectfully addressed as “Balasaheb” and continued to exert influence in Maha politics whether in power or not. He had such an enormous clout that that all political leaders genuflected at his feet. With his death in 2012, the SS had lost all that “phenomenal informal power”. The replacement kid, Udhav Thackeray (UT), had neither the charisma nor the intelligence or sharp wit of BT to be as dominant a force in politics as BT was. In addition, with time, BT had become the senior-most figure among all his peers, so that brought him some reverence too. It is not easy to fill the shoes of a giant like BT and that was the biggest problem of the “power hungry” UT. But even with the giant BT, SS never won a majority on its own in Maha. Thus, SS always remained on the side-line and their only way to power was with some alliance. But even before the death of BT, I had warned the BJP never to have a prepoll alliance with SS because the party neither had any ideology and all the Hindutva crap being credited to it is nothing but falsehood:

 

PM Modi understood this and did not ally with SS in 2014. The BJP won LS and Maharashtra on their own (although outside support was needed in Maha to form the govt). It is only after the results in 2014 that SS became a partner with BJP in the Maha govt. It would naturally hurt UT’s ego to realise that he is just a bit-player and does not possess the “Dadagiri” of BT. “Balasaheb” had open contempt and disdain for many of his alliance partners, including LK Advani. He was sharp-tongued and even said “those who bow before Sonia are Hijdas”. You can easily conclude what UT is if you go by that statement of BT. The other Thackeray, Raj, was reduced to a mere roadside-watcher in politics. What UT wanted was, the same power that BT had without contesting elections. He was more power-hungry than BT as his son AUT too is. These men haven’t built anything on their own, therefore, their lust is different. And then came the Palghar bypoll in May 2018. This is an event that most people are simply ignoring. It was the final insult to UT’s ego that turned him into a vengeful politician desperate for power at any and all cost:

 

Mentally, UT had already sworn revenge after the Palghar bypoll loss. He started publicly slamming PM Modi, even going to the extent of using “Chowkidar Chor” in a public meeting. UT also started hobnobbing with “Sickular” forces like Mamata Banerjee and their lovey-dovey exchanges were there for everyone to see (Except Devendra Fadnavis who was blind):

 

If not for his fear and knowledge that he would be slaughtered in Maha elections if he broke from BJP, UT would have also attended that spurious “Unity rally” of Mamata in Kolkata. The fallout of the Palghar bypoll fight was not missed by even the moronic media. Somehow, BJP and Fadnavis completely missed it altogether:

 

With all the actions, utterances and even the “Chowkidar Chor” reference, the BJP and Fadnavis simply failed to measure the motives of UT. He is not a BT who had any ideological compulsions later in life. UT simply wanted power, to seek revenge against Fadnavis and upstage the BJP as the major force in Maharashtra politics and sustain or rebuild the languishing influence of SS in the state’s politics. It is unfortunate that the BJP failed to recognise this freaky chameleon and still took on the SS as an ally after much protracted negotiations over seats. And if anyone was in doubt over the motives of UT in partnering BJP, the NCP MLA and leader Anil Deshmukh repeatedly alluded that post-elections, the NCP-Congress-SS would form the govt. In a speech and an interview, Deshmukh asserted this confidently. Hindsight, is a gift to all of us, but foresight should have been a gift with BJP with shrewd players like Amit Shah who were watching all this (Video 37 secs):

 

By the time Deshmukh made his speeches, it was too late to correct any mistakes. The withdrawal dates were over and elections were just a few days away. BJP’s fate was sealed even before the elections. I don’t think anyone is in doubt that UT and SS would have been in shambles had BJP gone it alone with the powerful magnetic pull of PM Modi with the voters. BJP didn’t lose the Maha election, they are victims of bad judgment and a bad partner. That is all there is to it. And post-results, Fadnavis lamented that UT was not even taking his calls. It is not because the post-election nonsense of 50:50 demand by UT or anything else was the reason. SS and UT had already made up their mind before elections to have their own CM and they knew it wouldn’t be possible with BJP:

That’s not all, after stepping down as CM for “80 hours”, Fadnavis made a statement that SS had surrendered “Hindutva at Sonia’s feet”. This is hypocrisy at its worst. In the five years that he was CM, Fadnavis had completely forgotten Hindutva and never uttered the word once. He was busy pleasing Muslims giving Minority scholarships and calling it “Sabka Saath”, he was allowing Kabrastans near Hindu temple, sporting Muslim gear at Bohra celebrations and his wife was doing Christmas Carols. Hindus were seriously short-changed by the Fadnavis-govt and ModiSarkar had better take that warning seriously or they will alienate more Hindus:

 

The map is only “indicative” and like the BJP BhajanMandlis one need not try to find excuses or dissect the reducing Saffron colour by some statistics of voting percentage or other factors. Simple fact is, if BJP could win a giant state like UP in 3 big elections without any partner, there was no reason to ally with the treacherous SS and UT. If that lesson is learned, then BJP will be back with a thumping victory again. The other lesson BJP has to learn, no amount of lipstick for “Sickularism” will get it anywhere. They cannot beat the Sickulars at their game – the only way they can win is with Hindutva as its core. That is the only thing that separates BJP from the motley crowd.

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