Sena-BJP tussle dates back to Balasaheb days, coincided with Modi's rise

New Delhi, Nov 7  Move over Devendra Fadnavis-Uddhav Thackeray battle, a closer look back at the politics of Maharashtra shows that for certain, the tussle between Shiv Sena and BJP dates back to Balasaheb Thackeray days, and incidentally that one-upmanship coincided with the rise of Narendra Modi.

Shiv Sena was the dominant saffron partner in Maharashtra's politics - which had often shown ideological tilt towards the Left and was almost overshadowed for long by the Congress.
Even the 'Congress-splinter' NCP led by Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar seemed to have better acceptability. But all changed around 2002-03 when Marathi Manoos developed a liking for a 'hero' from a state next door - the neighbouring Gujarat.

Analysing the same on hindsight, it may not be wrong to say that the illustrious Sena supremo Bal Thackeray himself had realised that well. Till the arrival of Modi - largely due to 2002 mayhem - Bal Thackeray was enjoying the uncrowned title of 'Hindu Hriday Samrat'.

But after Modi's success in 2002 elections and as Gujarat was drenched saffron, Modi had easily stolen that priceless epitaph.

It got a quantum leap as Modi could repeat his win in 2007.

Sena watchers in Maharashtra rightly say senior Thackeray had all the political acumen to understand all that and certainly did not approve Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate in later years.

It was around 2013 that the Sena also floated the name the then Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj as the prime ministerial candidate for the NDA.

Moreover, after BJP's success in the Lok Sabha polls, the saffron party attributed the entire NDA success story - which included 18 Sena seats - to the Modi wave.

In fact, from 2009 tally, the BJP's tally jumped to 23 from single digit nine and Sena's went up to 18 from 11.

Even otherwise, number of BJP leaders in Delhi and in Maharashtra have generally considered Uddhav Thackeray 'lusterless' and Sena cadres demoralised.

In fact, senior Sena leader Anant Geete had said in the previous Lok Sabha in as many words that the problem in Maharashtra's saffron alliance was largely due to the fact that "the younger brother's family (BJP) has become bigger".  

Prior to that Sena had other problems and challenges as it suffered three major rebellion. Chhagan Bhujbal, a popular OBC leader, had left the outfit during the lifetime of Bal Thackeray and so did Raj Thackeray.

Narayan Rane, another popular leader with mass base in Konkan region, also revolted in 2005 and what made things appear more 'sombre' for Uddhav Thackeray was that at times Raj Thackeray (MNS) stole more limelight than Uddhav.

Hence, the rivalry seen today is not a mere post-poll creation of the likes of Sanjay Raut or as simple as a father (Uddhav's) love for his newly elected legislator son Aditya Thackeray.

"Sena in fact has faced this challenge previously also when it gradually cut into Congress support base," a senior politician from the state said.

"Long back, the Sena was also called 'Vasant Sena' because it readily played second fiddle to Vasantdada Patil. Bal Thackeray even had backed Emergency," the source said referring to anti-Left plank Sena enjoyed during its infancy in 1960s.

But at subsequent stage, it emerged as a chief rival of Congress and in 1995, it came to power with the BJP.

"The dynamics of Maharashtra politics is such that Bal Thackeray had quickly given up strict Marathi chauvanism and adopted Hindutva. He knew BJP was gaining ground and now that it has made it, Sena knows where it pinches," the leader explained.

Sources say the 'dynamics of Maharashtra politics' have been such that even during his lifetime, Bal Thackeray at times sought to dilute his anti-Muslim rhetoric and used to say that his rhetoric were never 'Marathi Muslims' but Bangladeshi immigrants and others.

Nothing is permanent in politics, they say and here comes the relevance of the good old maxim -politics makes strange bedfellows.