Hyderabad: Raj Thackeray never fails to surprise the Marathi people. Once supposed to be a heir to Balasaheb Thackeray and the leader "ditto like Balasaheb", Raj stunned everyone when he broke away from Shiv Sena and its first family in 2006 and later formed his own party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Ever since, many of his political actions have caused ripples in the state's politics. The latest in the series was seen on Thursday.
In a public rally in Mumbai, he appealed to the people to elect his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena not to rule the state, but as an Opposition party. He said, "Today, a strong Opposition is what is needed the most... because the leaders in the ruling party (BJP) are not allowed to speak. They can't raise the issues of the people... Hence the question is who will fight for you? your issues?... For this sake... Give me the mandate to be in the Opposition."
He was aware of how unusual his appeal was. Nobody must have made this kind of a request in this country before, he said.
Raj's appeal is shrewd and pitiable at the same time.
Shrewd, because everybody can see today that the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena alliance is on a very strong footing and most are predicting its comeback to power with an even bigger majority this time. The Congress and NCP are crippled or tormented from within as a number of their sitting MLAs, MPs and many senior leaders have joined the BJP in last six months. Although the NCP has kept the fight alive, it is unlikely to be able to pose any serious challenge.
In this backdrop, the space for the Opposition is very wide and open. (We had said the same thing in these columns just two days ago)
Raj is eyeing this space.
Astute are the politicians who try to seize the moment and turn the situation to their advantage. In this regard, one is reminded of Balasaheb, who said on the evening of 6th December 1992 that if Shiv Sainiks have really demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, he is proud of them. With this remark, on that fateful day when even BJP and VHP were not coming forward to own up to the act, Thackeray had hit too many birds with one stone. One of his aims was to catapult his party to a much higher scale, which he achieved to an extent.
Raj is trying to play similar kind of politics. Knowing fully well that his party is completely in shambles, he wants to bring it back into people's reckoning if not into a contest.
But howsoever shrewd it may sound, Raj's move is quite pitiable as it emanates from his weakness and not strong point.
In the last few years, MNS has seen a continuous downward graph. At its height of popularity in 2009, MNS had won 13 Assembly seats (out of 288) making it the fourth largest party in the state. Within just three years from its formation in 2006, reaching to this level was seen as a great success. Following this in 2012, MNS won 27 (of 227 seats) in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. The same year it won 45 seats and came into power in Nashik Corporation.
Being supremely confident then, Raj used to appeal to the people then: "Give me power once and I will put everyone in place."
But then on, the party could not keep up the momentum. Rather, its fall was very swift and steep.
Today, MNS has only one councillor in the Mumbai Muncipal Corporation. In Nashik, it has no representation at all. In 2014 assembly election it got only one seat, that too, was actually an independent supported by MNS. 203 of 288 of its candidates' deposits were forfeited. Subsequently, MNS decided not to contest Lok Sabha elections at all. This was an unprecedented step for any major political party.
This time around also, it was reported in the media that Raj was not in favour of fighting the assembly election. He wanted to take a break again as he was aware of how weak his party is. And if reports are to be believed, the party activists almost forced him to change his decision.
MNS, when launched, was championing the cause of Marathi people. As a part of this, it ran some campaigns against the non-Marathis in Maharashtra and became popular. It did not have any other constructive programme to offer to the people. Now the party seems to be silent even on the non-Marathi issue and has not done any agitation on any issue for ages.
Raj is a good orator. Even today, after so many defeats, thousands of people gather to listen to him anytime, anywhere in Maharashtra. In fact, he still has a lot of young fans.
But ironically his strong point (oratory) has proved to be the weak point of MNS. Over the years, Raj has been giving fantastic speeches, getting lot of TV time and publicity in the press, but later on, it all vanishes in no time. It is because there is no follow up action. MNS has no agenda, no programme, no day to day activity of its own. Shiv Sena activists are active even today at the ground level and are there for the people to solve their day to day problems. MNS could not create such an organisational base. It has proved to be its biggest unmaking.
Raj is certainly going to repeat his appeal to elect him into Opposition during the rest of the campaign. He will earn many headlines and even perhaps country-wide publicity by making such appeals. But he is unlikely to gain much. Neither in this election, nor in future. Unless, of course, he changes his way of politicking.
Read: Fadnavis will be seen sitting next to Uddhav in Shiv Sena's next Dussehra rally: Sanjay Raut
