The Maharashtra Mystery!
India seems to be polling, more so often these days. Not that we didn’t have them so often earlier, but thanks to the digital age we live in, the magnitude of poll fever seems to have gripped the country more than ever.
The BJP under the leadership of their star campaigner Sh.Narendra Modi has proved their long pending relevance in the Indian politics. A full majority win in the Lok Sabha was just the tip of the iceberg, what followed was the collateral collapse of remaining political entities, with BJP trolling them over election by election and claiming every inch of the political territory that came their way. With a sound central leadership headed by the Prime Minister himself and supported by his Chief Strategy Officer Sh. Amit Shah, BJP has proved that they are in this for a long haul and want to paint the country saffron as much as possible.
While Haryana was a clean sweep for BJP, the Maharashtra mystery seems to remain unsolved. Despite its biggest political gain in Maharashtra to date, BJP has formed a minority government in the state due to conflicts with its oldest ally, Shiv Sena. There seems to be no end to the impasse between the two saffron brothers and the situation has been worsened by support coming in from all other political parties, who want to make hay while the sun shines on Narendra Modi. The hay which actually belongs to Shiv Sena.
Political pundits are guesstimating a lot many possibilities, yet the situation remains indecisive. What it means for both the parties, only time will tell.
What it means for Shiv Sena?
So goes the saying — ‘Penny wise and Pound Foolish’. Sena by all means is going to be at the loosing end of this political slugfest if a compromise is not reached. A chance of being in the government after 15 years is by no means a small chance. The golden days of Balasaheb when he virtually controlled Maharashtra irrespective of the government is a thing of the past, and today’s Shiv Sena needs to be in the government to regain their political clout. Moreover Sena needs to groom its next generation like Aditya Thackeray and sitting out for the next 5 years would mean a lost opportunity. Being a part of the alliance would mean enough mileage to Sena, and their say in the political corridors of Maharashtra would be larger than the ranks they are demanding. Sena can then easily build on top of its understanding of Maharashtra’s demography, which is going to be the key ingredient for Saffron success in Maharashtra.
What it means for BJP?
‘There are no friends in Politics’ so goes this one. BJP is the big elephant in the room these days. Their support base is increasing, their image is changing and they seem to have moved on from the issue of Hindutva towards a more versatile issue of development. Their renewed strategy is resulting in changing political equations. They not admitting to Sena’s demands seems justified since the demands itself look unjustified.
By ditching Sena, BJP will definitely miss the muscular strength Sena adds with its hardliner approach toward Indian anti nationals. This separation won’t go down well with BJP critics who will paint it as the high headed one who ditched its oldest ally. Importantly, there is a Balasaheb somewhere in every Maharashtrians heart, who will be disappointed. On the flip side, BJP might add to its otherwise weak secular image. Sena resonates Hindutva, and BJP is making all its efforts to ditch that tag and shift it to development and governance. By ditching Sena, BJP sends a strong signal to its secular critics, and this can play an important role in the upcoming crucial assembly elections for J&K. BJP also sends an even stronger message to all its allies elsewhere, to fall in line or be perished.
There is yet another day for this tug of war to end, and with the Maharashtra trust vote on Wednesday (12–11–2014), things should become clearer. Till then, lets hope this comes to its logical conclusion.
