The Raj-Uddhav Snuggle Fest

Efforts to re-unite Mumbai’s Thackeray cousins are beginning to fructify, thanks partly to a people’s campaign aimed at making them see political logic.

Warring cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray are visibly cosying up to each other. For nearly three years, they were at each other’s jugular vein. As Mumbai temperatures soared and upset everybody’s schedules, the estranged cousins did the unthinkable—reopened their channels of interaction.  

While Uddhav sent Raj a brand new copy of his coffee table book Maharashtra Desha right off the printing press, Raj responded with his vocal chords. At a photography exhibition, Raj was lavish in his praise of his cousin; Uddhav was among the best photographers there could be, he told an audience left rubbing their ears. It was the first time in three years that Raj had referred to his cousin by name, and he smiled as he did so. It was a flashbulb moment for all followers of the Shiv Sena, led by its executive president Uddhav, and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by its president Raj.

Cheering joyously was a group of Marathi businessmen, artistes and writers who have made it their mission to end the hostilities between the two young claimants of Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray’s political legacy. Towards that noble end, this group runs a forum called Majhi Chalwal, Mee Maharashtracha (My movement, I belong to Maharashtra). Of course, it’s all for the larger interests of the Marathi manoos. “We want to build a powerful pressure group of Maharashtra-loving people who can exert pressure on the Shiv Sena and MNS to bury their differences,” says Satish Walanju, businessman and forum spokesman, “Non-Marathis can also be part of this forum. We have prepared a seven-month plan to achieve our goal.” 

Among its businessmen and artistes, the forum already counts Shashi Sawant, Yogendra Chemburkar, Pritam Mantri, Arvind Pawaskar, Deepak Bhosale and Prakash Kanade, and it aims to enrol about 700 members at least. According to Walanju, such Marathi celebrities as Nana Patekar, Milind Gunaji, Aadesh Bandekar, Bharat Jadhav and Kedar Shinde will be invited to join the pressure group. All these are friends of either Uddhav or Raj.

A recent meeting of the forum has already discussed strategies to reduce the bitterness between the cousins. To achieve this, it has a budget of Rs 35 lakh. Making the two shake hands and forget their differences is an expensive goal. Signing up for the campaign involves paying 

Rs 5,000 either by cheque or cash. “Once the mission is accomplished,” says Walanju, “we will reveal details of the expenditure at a public rally.” 

The political motivation of the effort, though, is clear. It was the debacle of the Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections last year that prompted Walanju, a hardcore Shiv Sainik, to embark on such a campaign. Voter feedback backed his hunch: people from all walks of life that the group spoke to wanted both to lead the Shiv Sena jointly, with Uddhav as the backroom strategist and Raj the party’s public orator. 

Sainiks in Mumbai see scope for synergy. “Raj saheb is lazy and surrounded by deadwood who have no ideas or strategies,” elaborates a senior Sena leader, “Uddhavji is an organiser, a planner who is surrounded by experienced people. Since they have openly voiced their resentment of each other’s failings, they will be much more understanding of each other if they come together.”

This is not the first time that moves have been made to bring the cousins together. Earlier, efforts were made by senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi, historian Babasaheb Purandare and even current BJP President Nitin Gadkari, among others. They had tried convincing Uddhav and Raj of the benefits of a patch-up, but in vain. 

Even now, many in Uddhav’s coterie are not keen on a rapprochement, but the logic of electoral arithmetic is hard to ignore. In the 2004 Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Sena secured 57 seats. But once the MNS broke away as a splinter party, in the 2009 polls, the Sena bagged only 44 seats while the MNS got 13. The joint tally still adds up to 57. Had their votes not been split, reckon Sena fans, the tally could have been higher. Maybe even high enough to achieve power in the state, currently run by a coalition of the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

With the Brihanmumbai Mumbai Corp (BMC) polls slated for 2012, the Sena is keen to have all loopholes plugged. Word of a tie-up with the MNS is doing the party’s rounds, to the delight of Walanju’s forum. An added factor is that Uddhav faces extra pressure to secure a clear Sena victory in the BMC polls, since the saffron party has run it for the past two decades, and is in no mood to relinquish power over Mumbai’s municipal affairs. But with Raj having played the spoiler in last year’s Assembly election, Uddhav knows that even this relatively assured victory could prove elusive if his party ventures into the fray alone.

On the other hand, Raj acutely needs to clench an ideological fist. Successive defeats of the Shiv Sena at the hands of the Congress have earned Raj the tag of a ‘closet Congressman’, something he is desperate to shake off. Allying with the Sena would send clear signals of his opposition to the state’s ruling party/coalition.

That an alliance can be of benefit to both cousins is obvious, and  this is why political observers think it can overcome their personal rift. But then, nothing in Maharashtra politics is ever that straightforward. 

There are whispers that the NCP chief Sharad Pawar is working behind-the-scenes to unite Uddhav and Raj. This could be a way for Pawar to rebalance the scales of power between the NCP and Congress; any strength that the latter gains could be nullified by a better united saffron opposition, as the calculation goes.

Ever since NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel were caught in the muck raked up by the Indian Premier League scam, tensions between their party and the Congress have become evident in New Delhi. Even in Mumbai, one-upmanship has taken over, with state ministers of each party trying to upstage the other, often at the cost of governance.

On his part, Uddhav is also keen on getting former Sainiks Chhagan Bhujbal and Narayan Rane back from the Congress into his party fold. Raj remains friends with Rane, whom Uddhav also sent a copy of his book. Rane was appreciative of the Sena leader’s efforts. By the look of it, Marathi bonhomie is on an upswing. Now for the political repercussions.

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