Mumbai: Santosh Ohale sits inside his office — a Shiv Sena shakha (local branch) in Kurla, Mumbai — with his three colleagues. It’s after lunch. A sketch of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray sits on the centre table, surrounded by piles of paper and files.
Ohale adjusts his glasses as he scans each paper minutely, and then prepares to make an entry into a computer that sits on his table.
He and his colleagues are registering new members of the Shiv Sena, he tells ThePrint, pointing to a pile of affidavits that sits next to his computer.
“We’ve received 5,000 pratigya patra (affidavits) since this morning, all swearing allegiance to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray,” says Ohale, who’s the shakha pramukh (head of the local branch) in Kurla.
“Here, it’s not about an MLA, it’s about the local Shiv Sainik,” Swapnil Mhatre, Ohale’s colleague and a leader at the Kurla shakha, adds. “There’s no confusion among the Shiv Sainiks. Work goes on as usual.”
Less than a month after a rebellion in his party forced former chief minister Thackeray to resign and installed rebel Shiv Sainik Eknath Shinde in his place, more than two-thirds of the Sena’s 55 MLAs and 12 MPs have switched sides. Thackeray’s Sena faction is now pinning its hopes on the grassroots units to rebuild the party.
The first priority seems to be getting the Sena’s house in order in Mumbai — the heart of the party’s politics. As the party prepares for the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections — due later this year — the Thackerays insist that the Sena’s support base in Mumbai remains intact.
In an interview he gave to Saamana — the Sena’s mouthpiece — Thackeray also said he was confident that his party would win the civic body elections.
Born in Mumbai in 1966, the Sena’s first decade or so in politics was limited to the city, its nerve centre. It fought its first political battle on one major plank — the Marathi manoos (Marathi man), or sons of the soil.
Although the Sena expanded its ideology in the 80s to include Hindutva, Mumbai continued to occupy a significant place in its politics. So firm was its hold over the city that it has helmed the the BMC for 25 years.
It’s precisely this connection with the city that the Thackeray faction is banking on. Many shakha–level functionaries have told ThePrint that they have an emotional connect with the Thackerays and while the rebel camp may be making chinks in the party’s cadre elsewhere in the state, breaching the Shiv Sena foundation in Mumbai could prove a tall order.
“I consider myself a lucky man to have been attached to the Shiv Sena and I can proudly say that none of the members [of my shakha] have changed their loyalty. We’re all with the Shiv Sena,” says Sanjay Mhatre, the pramukh of the Sion shakha who’s been associated with the Sena for 35 years.
ThePrint visits Sena shakhas in Parel, Dadar, Sion, and Kurla — all areas that come either under the Shiv Sena or the Sena rebels — to gauge the mood of the party on the ground.
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Importance of a shakha
A shakha is a basic unit of Shiv Sena’s organisational structure. It has ordinary Shiv Sainiks, a gata pramukh (“Gata” is a group in Marathi) and a shakha pramukh. A group of shakhas form a vibhag — the unit that manages a parliamentary constituency. The person who heads this unit is called a vibhag pramukh.
An upavibhag pramukh (deputy leader), who comes under the vibhag pramukh, manages an assembly constituency.
The Sena instituted this organisational structure in the late 1970s.
Issues concerning women and senior citizens are given priority — a diktat of the late founder of the Shiv Sena, Bal Thackeray.
Mumbai has 227 shakhas — roughly one for each of the city’s municipal wards. Each ward is headed by a shakha pramukh and has eight to 10 upashakha pramukhs, and over 40 gata pramukhs.
The Sena’s shakhas traditionally hold much importance in the party — these local offices allow people to access the party directly and convey their problems, such as overflowing garbage or drinking water issues in their areas.
Such is the importance of the shakha that after the rebellion in the party last month, Uddhav held meetings with shakha leadership to ensure grassroots support.
Support for the Thackerays
It’s Uddhav’s birthday, 27 July, and posters of the former chief minister dot the road leading to the Kurla shakha.
Kurla is the constituency of rebel MLA Mangesh Kudalkar.
So why this undying loyalty to Uddhav? The answer lies in the name he bears. Shakha workers across Parel, Dadar, Sion, and Kurla say it was the “dying wish” of Uddhav’s late father, Sena founder Bal Thackeray, that they should “take care” of his family — son Uddhav and grandson Aaditya.
“Nothing happened even when Narayan Rane left the party. Not even Konkan got disturbed. Eventually, he lost,” says Kamlakar Naik, a member of the Kurla shakha.
He’s referring to former Sena leader Rane, who is now with the Bharatiya Janata Party and is a Union minister. Rane, a leader from Maharashtra’s Konkan belt, was expelled from the party in 2005.
“Shiv Sainiks are emotional people,” says Naik. “It was a mistake to touch the grassroots worker.”
This grassroots support, he says, will carry the Sena through the BMC elections.
“The ground-level strength has reignited [because of the rebellion],” Naik says. “This support is very important for the BMC elections. The Shiv Sainik has reawakened. So maybe what happened, happened for the best. Maybe new people will get a chance now.”
And what happens if the Election Commission decides to freeze the Sena’s election symbol — the bow and arrow — as the two factions fight to be recognised as the real party?
“We karyakartas will campaign from door to door to raise awareness,” Naik says.
Speaking to ThePrint, Kurla MLA Kudalkar says he has worked as shakha pramukh himself and has a “good relationship” with local residents.
“I don’t depend upon the main members of a shakha,” he says. “So I don’t care if they come along with me or not. But I’m in touch with the people [of the constituency] directly so that’s an advantage. I have told the shakha members that if they want to come along, they can. If not, I’ll make a new team.”
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The ‘Sena’ family
The party’s Sion shakha is bustling with activity, distributing jute bags to mark Uddhav’s birthday.
Sion falls in rebel MP Rahul Shewale’s Mumbai South-Central constituency. But Shewale’s photo on the shakha‘s banner is hidden from view.
Shakha head Sanjay Mhatre says Uddhav has held two meetings with him and other members of the shakha over the past month.
“He told us we could go if we wanted, but we told him we’re proud to be attached to the Shiv Sena and won’t go anywhere,” he says. “The Shiv Sena is our family. We’ve been attached to the Thackeray family since the beginning.”
Many shakha heads say they believe many of the rebel lawmakers switched sides because of money and the fear of the Enforcement Directorate.
Mhatre says he is “close to Shewale” but still refused to switch sides.
“No, he’ll never call me. He knows I won’t go anywhere. I have a close relationship with him. He has done a lot for me,” he says. “But I’m not hungry. My stomach is full. We are bonded to Balasaheb. He has made us promise to stay with him. We are small people. And still have humanity left in us.”
Ajay Choudhari, one of the few MLAs who decided to remain with Thackeray, says the Sena and its workers owe their identity to Bal Thackeray.
“We got our name, prosperity, and a chance to work for society only because of Thackeray. Someone like me who ran a stall, or [someone who was] a rickshaw wala, a tapri-wala (tea stall), we all got our recognition because of Thackeray,” Choudhari told ThePrint.
Choudhari, the MLA for Shivadi, was briefly appointed leader of the Sena legislative party last month in the midst of the crisis. His appointment was cancelled earlier this month after Eknath Shinde was sworn in as chief minister. “This vendetta politics won’t work in Maharashtra and grass-root Shiv Sainiks would still remain with Shiv Sena.”
Acceptance of Aaditya’s leadership
Rebels have cited Uddhav’s son and former minister Aaditya Thackeray’s growing clout and his alleged interference in their departments as one of the major reasons for their rebellion.
But for shakha workers, the Thackeray scion is a “leader with a vision” who will take the party forward.
Aaditya’s Twitter account shows he has visited at least 15 shakhas in Mumbai over the past two weeks to hold meetings.
“After Shivaji Maharaj, it was Sambhaji Maharaj who was accepted. So what’s the problem,” Naik asks, referring to the first Maratha chhatrapati and his son and successor.
Choudhari, who says he has interacted with Aaditya several times, believes the 32-year-old can connect with the younger generation.
“At the end of the day, he’s still a Thackeray. The love and care [we have] for the Thackeray family are still there,” he says. “He will come up with new ideas for society.”
Mhatre agrees. “If Aaditya didn’t work,” he says, “we wouldn’t have supported him. As a minister, he worked to once again give life to the environment ministry. He worked efficiently, has a vision, and is accepted wherever he goes to deliver talks, even internationally. He’s a young face and a Thackeray.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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