Fall of Udhav Thackrey

So last night curtain came down on MVA Government in Maharashtra, after CM Udhav Thackrey resigned, which ended the reign of the three-party (Shiv Sena, Congress,  and Nationalist Congress Party ) Government. From day one, when Udhav Thackrey took the oath of CM, every political pandit was of the view this alliance will not last because of ideological differences between Shiv Sena  and Congress/NCP. Shiv Sena is a party propagating Hindutva, and other parties are supposed to be secular parties.

Let us see how Udhav Thackrey fell down, listed down are a few facts-

1 Before the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections of 2019, BJP and Shiv Sena were in alliance.

2 During the assembly elections both the partners were allotted almost the same number of seats to fight. When the result came BJP won 106 and Shiv Sena 55 seats in 288 seat assembly, which gave them a majority to form the govt.

3 During the election campaign it was made evident that after the election, Devendra Phadnavis of BJP (at that time present CM of their alliance) will be the CM if the alliance gets the majority. But after the election, Udhav Thackrey started insisting that CM should be from Shiv Sena, for which the BJP did not agree because it was not the condition of the pre-poll alliance.

4 So Udhav Thackrey ditched BJP and started negotiating with Congress (44 seats) and NCP (54 seats) for the formation of the government. Initially, Udhav was rooting for his son Aditya Thackrey to be made CM, but other parties did not agree, and they agree to join the alliance if Udhav becomes CM.

5 The alliance partner named the alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), where all the three constituents of the alliance share the minister’s portfolios.

6 Even though an alliance was formed hardcore Shiv Sainik started whispering that it is against the ideology of the founder of the party late Bal Thackrey, who after the formation of the party in the late 60s, was always for Hindutva, and always against Congress and NCP who are pseudo-secular parties. He even mentioned openly if he ever to form a government he has to take the support of these parties he will never form such government and will prefer to close his shop.

7 After becoming CM, Udhav started abusing the BJP, and any decisions taken by earlier CM of BJP were reversed within a very short span of time.

8 Within 6 months of government formation, the news of corruption being done by ministers started floating.

9 Then in April 2020, three Hindu saints were lynched by the mob in Palghar, but there was no proper police action against the culprits, which very much annoyed the media and some of the news channels started questioning Udhav Thackrey because he was CM. This was Udhav’s first anti-Hindu stance which was not liked by the public and many Shiv Sainiks.

10 Government even harassed and arrested noted journalist and owner of Republic TV news channel, Arnab Goswami, because he was the foremost in asking questions.

11 Slowly, the condition started worsening and anyone speaking against the government was harassed. The classic case is of film actor Kangana Ranaut, whose office structure was demolished.

12 Then came the scandal of Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, as per the Police Commissioner of Mumbai, he started asking for Rs 100 Cr per month as bribe money. There were other charges of corruption in the transfer of police officers. Subsequently, after the CBI inquiry Home minister was arrested ( he is still in prison).

13 Even one more minister Nawab Malik was arrested on charges of having links with the underworld and laundering money, he is also still in jail.

14 In the meantime many Shiv Sena ministers started feeling suffocated in the government as they did not have any say. Basically, the government was run by NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Even they could not approach Udhav Thackrey, as he was most of the time was inaccessible, as there was a coterie of people like Sanjay Raut, Aditya Thackrey, and Udhav’s secretary who took all the decisions, and most of the time prevented other ministers and Shiv Sainiks to meet Udhav. Due to the prevalent pandemic of Corona, Udhav most of the time worked from his home and hardly visited his office in Mantralaya.

The recent incidences of Shiv Sena’s MLA voting against the party candidates in Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council elections were the first step of dissident MLAs against the party leadership. Then the leader of a breakaway group of Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde last Monday night left Mumbai with 20 more MLAs, first, they landed in Surat and then in Guwahati where more MLAs joined him. In the end, it came to the situation where he had more than 2/3^rd the MLAs of Shiv Sena with him, which protected them from anti-defection law.

The MLAs who were left with Udhav, and other officials of Shiv Sena tried their best to bring the rebel back but to no avail. In the meantime on the plea of the BJP that the MVA govt has lost the majority, the Governor asked for a floor test of majority. On this, Udhav Thackrey’s group went to Supreme Court (SC), where SC gave the judgment that the floor test as asked by Governor is right and it has to take place on 30^th June 2022 (today). As Udhav realized that MVA is not having a majority, he tendered his resignation on the night of 29^th June.

In my opinion, the major reasons which contributed to Udhav’s fall are

-Most of the MLAs from outside Mumbai, were the people who strengthen and built the Shiv Sena in their areas, on the basis of the ideology formed by Bal Thackrey. As Udhav went against the ideology, they were not able to explain to their followers and the public why this happened.

-Secondly, Sanjay Raut MP of  Shin Sena who started using abusive language against BJP leaders especially Narendra Modi and Amit Shah was not taken well by the public, as the public was surprised to hear such filthy language against the PM and central Home Minister. Sanjay Raut was using foul language against anyone who dared to question him or Shiv Sena.

– Thirdly Udhav never realized the discontent among the Sena MLAs and other down-the-line workers. Udhav forgot that he is no Bal Thackrey who had control over his Shiv Sainiks, and they were also true and loyal to him. The Sainik were still loyal to U till November 2019, but in the present circumstances he lost respect/loyalty after he made an alliance with Congress and NCP for sake of power and to teach lesson to BJP.

In the end going against Hindutva and BJP were the main cause of Udhav’s downfall, and this may be the end of his dream ruling Maharashtra.

Waiting for your views on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

30^th June 2022