Shiv Sena’s “Dead Parrot” and Hindutva

The story goes like this: A king had a pet parrot. He used to love the parrot more than the queens. One day the king's servants found the parrot dead. But nobody had the courage to tell the truth out of fear. Somebody goes and says, “Parrot is not making any movements”. Another goes on to say, “Parrot is not eating anything”. A servant says,” Parrot’s neck is lying down and eyes are closed”. This goes on but nobody dares to tell the truth that the parrot is dead. Finally, the king, himself, goes to find out that the parrot is dead.

Similarly, sycophants surrounding Uddhav have no courage to tell him the truth that the party has divorced Hindutva. Unlike the king in the story, Uddhav surely is not naïve. He is well aware of the reality but finds himself in a helpless situation thanks to blind opposition to the BJP.

Sena, under the leadership of Uddhav, was never comfortable with BJP after the death of Bal Thackeray in 2012. It was during this period that the BJP expanded its popular support due to the rise of Narendra Modi at the national level. In the absence of leadership like Bal Thackeray and due to the rise of Narendra Modi, Uddhav became insecure and tried to blackmail the BJP at an emotional level. Sena participated in Devendra Fadnavis's government but always used to threaten to walk out saying its ministers were carrying resignations in their pockets.

Then came the 2019 elections when Sena fought with BJP, and won an impressive number of seats. Electorates of Maharashtra gave mandate in favour of the ‘saffron alliance’ but Uddhav preferred to go with NCP and Congress. This was not merely a formal breakup between two saffron parties but signifies Sena’s departure from Hindutva as well.

Sena had never given a satisfactory and convincing explanation on its alliance with Congress and NCP, considered as anti-Hindu. Sena leaders still maintain their commitment to Hindutva. But alliance with anti-Hindutva forces exposed Uddhav Thackeray. Sena leaders always cite BJP’s alliance with Mehbooba Mufti but deliberately neglect BJP’s real strategy and the fact that BJP sacrificed the power in Kashmir at one time. Sena spokesperson, on several occasions, sound far leftist, having complete negativity for Hindus. Sena’s Hindutva is now restricted only to its own party meetings, to keep the cadre together. Uddhav and his coterie fear that cadre may join Shinde camp if they adopt even a slightly anti-Hindu stand. Uddhav’s moves categorically suggest that he has no more affection for Hindutva.

Sena’s departure from Hindutva and increasing ideological dependence on left or Congress ideas can be judged from Uddhav’s series of speeches. Sena’s social media handle seems to be hijacked by leftists, who hunt or dig out an opportunity to criticise BJP’s Hindutva, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Uddhav has even posed questions on Ram temple in Ayodhya. Sena leaders may not have enough intellectual capacity to understand how their party is being used by leftists to divide Hindus with the garb of nothing but Hindutva.

But this is neither incidental or accidental. Uddhav, himself, is to be blamed for this. In August 2022, a few days after Ekanath Shinde walked away with 40 MLAs for ditching Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva, Uddhav announced alliance with Sambhaji Brigade. Entire Maharashtra knows what Sambhaji Brigade stands for. Sambhaji Brigade had officially departed from Hindu fold and formed a separate ‘Shivdharma’. Sambhaji Brigade does not agree with popularly known established ideas of Hindutva. Political observers even blame Sambhaji Brigade for sowing seeds of division in Maharashtra by setting narratives, which are close to leftists’ propaganda.

In January 2023, Uddhav and Vanchit Bhaujan Aaghadi’s (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar announced a formal alliance. Ambedkar-Thackeray declared to fight the election together. While nothing concrete had taken place in this regard, Uddhav had shown that he could go to any extreme to oppose BJP, which even included sacrifice of Hindutva. How will Uddhav explain his alliance with Sambhaji Brigade and Prakash Ambedkar, who vehemently and aggressively opposes Hindutva?

On Sunday, Uddhav Thackeray conducted a meeting of 21 splinter groups, which call themselves ‘Socialist’. While popular support to these Socialist groups needs to be inspected under microscope, their hate for Hindutva is a well-known fact. Such is their image that `samajwadi’ is called ‘namazwadi’ in Maharashtra. Uddhav is certain to be aware of this. Still, he chose to go with Socialists as he had lost all the affection for Hindutva. Uddhav’s Sunday meeting with socialists has taken him to the exact opposite position of Hindutva. One must remember that socialists had bitterly opposed Hindutva and had not even spared Uddhav’s father – Bal Thackeray.

Sena’s Hindutva, thus, has come under severe scanner now. The million-dollar question is how serious was Sena about Hindutva in the first place? Sena and BJP joined hands in the nineties when the political atmosphere in the country was charged because of Hindutva due to Ayodhya's agitation. Mumbai and Maharashtra were no exception to it. Sena leaders were particularly concerned about Mumbai as it derived main strength from the financial capital of India. Sena leaders might have feared that a charged Hindutva atmosphere may override Marathi sentiment, on which the party was banking since its inception. Many infer Sena’s alliance with BJP was out of political compulsion and desperate attempt to survive. BJP, on its part, was in accommodative mode during that period for the larger interests of Hindutva. Many BJP leaders admit that they neglected several humiliating incidents due to larger interests of Hindutva. This was very much evident even during the tenure of Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister. However, it was the last straw on the camel's back for BJP when Uddhav joined hands with NCP-Congress to become Chief Minister.

Notably, Sena had always fought independently and against BJP outside Maharashtra even though it had a formal alliance with BJP. It continued to fight despite the fact that its performance has been very pathetic. Take the case of Goa election in 2022. Goa has a sizable number of Marathi voters and Sena was aiming to open its account there. Goa election took place when Uddhav was Chief Minister of Maharashtra. However, Sena’s performance was so poor that all its ten candidates lost their deposit. Number of NOTA votes was bigger than the votes secured by Uddhav’s party. Sena’s insistence to fight against BJP outside Maharashtra, always posed a question before its intention but it was never seriously attended.

Uddhav is now knowingly getting carried away by leftist agenda. Several leftists have penetrated into the Uddhav camp and run hate campaigns against Hindutva. Uddhav, initially, was soft about RSS even after 40 MLAs decided to join hands with BJP. In fact, he had shown his respect for RSS on a few occasions. He, however, does not hesitate to criticise RSS nowadaysaanjal, making his intentions loud and clear.

Time has come to tell Uddhav that his parrot is dead.