The Bharatiya Janata Party is, modestly put, a dethroning-specialist. From Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh and Puducherry, the BJP does not only believe in winning elections but also dethroning the winner of elections it has lost. And its eyes are clearly set on Maharashtra now. Dethroning the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi will be sweet revenge for the BJP considering Uddhav Thackeray’s party backstabbed the BJP last minute and formed government with its arch-rivals – Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and Sonia Gandhi’s Congress. The Sachin Waze fiasco, the allegations of corruption in the government that even ex-top cop Julio Ribeiro refuses to touch and the Maharashtra Covid super surge has made imagining the dethroning much easier.
But there’s another reason why the BJP is very keen to dismantle the Maharashtra government. The Narendra Modi-Amit Shah-led party is focussed on not allowing any viable opposition to stand against it, because, clearly, the BJP is afraid of political alternatives. With the economy tanking, it cannot afford to lose the nationalism pitch with its rich overtones of communalism. Much to the BJP’s dismay, the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has evolved itself into a perfectly nationalist, Shivaji-loving, proudly Hindu-yet-secular front. Shiv Sena karyakartas were the original vigilantes, much before it was a political fad. So, it has quite unassumingly ticked all the boxes for a hefty vote share. Five years of the MVA government will act as a political alternative the BJP can’t afford. Which is why it is desperately trying to break the Maharashtra government.
If you thought the taking of the throne of Maharashtra was dramatic, the dethroning is nothing less than a blockbuster.
Also read: Uddhav govt to probe home minister Deshmukh & also why Param Bir Singh didn’t act on ‘info’
The plot thickens
There will come a time when a Netflix Original will be made on the story developing in Maharashtra. The ensemble cast will have the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the infamous ‘encounter specialist’ and assistant police inspector Sachin Hindurao Waze, former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh, Maharashtra home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh, and the richest man in India, Mukesh Ambani, and his house Antilia. The plot twist will be provided by the BJP.
This land-mine that the MVA seems to have stepped on can go off at any time, but only if the Thackeray government makes the wrong move. So far the series of bizarre events seemed too random, but when put together by former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on the floor of the house, who seemed to have more details on the case than the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra government combined, it all connected to paint a rather corrupt picture of the Shiv Sena-led MVA.
The long and short of this fantastic series of events is a bomb scare outside Mukesh Ambani’s house Antilia due to a gelatin-laden Scorpio car parked outside that was flagged by his personal security, the subsequent death of the owner of the Scorpio (Mansukh Hiran), Devendra Fadnavis then alleging that it was Mumbai cop Sachin Waze who was tailing the Scorpio parked outside Antilia, and the subsequent letter from Param Bir Singh after he was sacked for the lapses in the case. In the letter, Singh alleged that NCP’s Anil Deshmukh had directed Waze to collect Rs 100 crore in bribes every month from restaurants, bars and hotels.
Also read: Mumbai Police, India’s Scotland Yard, caught between khaki pride and khadi shadow
Covid, Kangana and Sushant
It’s clear that the BJP is fighting tooth and nail to bring down the Maharashtra government. So far, it has tried its luck with a plethora of issues. The BJP has continuously kept harping on the number of rising Covid cases in Maharashtra and how the Uddhav Thackeray government is completely incompetent in handling this medical emergency. But with the labourers’ exodus last year and the rising cases now, the Centre itself is looking incompetent and ill-prepared.
So, glamorous pawns were added in this fight, with Kangana Ranaut turning into a Jhansi ki Rani (with Y-plus security) trying to allege that Mumbai had turned into Pakistan under Uddhav Thackeray’s rule. Then BJP minister Narayan Rane alleging that Aaditya Thackeray was the reason behind Sushant Singh Rajput’s former manager’s death. Rane insinuated that Aditya Thackeray had raped and murdered Disha Salian.
The BJP then tried to show Mumbai as a hub of drugs in high-profile arrests with central agencies questioning film actors like Rhea Chakraborty, Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan. Deputy CM of Bihar and BJP leader Sushil Modi went as far as to allege that Uddhav Thackeray was trying to save actors from getting implicated in the drugs case related to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death because he was under pressure from the “Bollywood mafia”. Add to this the laughable drama created by Arnab Goswami’s TRP scam and arrest, and an entire army of actors, journalists and politicians were all guns blazing at the Maha Vikas Aghadi. The BJP may have won some emotional points in Bihar through these tactics but none of it worked to taint the Maharashtra government.
Also read: Centre pulls up Maharashtra for slow vaccination pace, ‘unused’ doses as state asks for more
The corruption plank
The BJP has now gone back to its tried-and-tested method to try and bring down the Thackeray government. The corruption plank. It brought down UPA at the Centre in 2014 with the same tactic enraging people against the Gandhis – the loathsome ‘damaad’ Robert Vadra and his acres of land acquired for peanuts, the Augusta Westland VVIP chopper deal, the 2G Spectrum scam, the Adarsh scam, the CWG scam, and so on and so forth. In fact, the BJP is trying the same thing in the upcoming West Bengal assembly election – trying to point out the corruption in Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek’s family. It’s another thing that ‘loyalists’ like Mukul Roy, Suvendu Adhikari and Sovan Chatterjee, all named in the Saradha chit fund scam, became spotless when they joined the BJP.
But Maharashtra is a way more complicated case because it also involves a threat to the richest man in India – Mukesh Ambani – by a cop who the BJP alleges is close to Uddhav Thackeray. Fadnavis has alleged that Thackeray had requested him to reinstate Waze in 2018 after he was taken out of service after the custodial death of Khwaja Yunus. And Param Bir Singh’s letter isn’t helping the MVA either. It is now advantage BJP.
The author is a political observer and writer. Views are personal.
MVA government is not elected by people of Maharashtra. Its a forced government, with fools sitting and not knowing how to run the show. Its result is current situation. Better that these people step down and save themselves from further embarrassment.
Madàm seems to suggest that BJP indirectly planted the G Sticks .
Poor peoples are trying very hard from the start and even think that this government will destroy automatically in 11 days but LOL rest is the history. The few minutes cm was trying very hard to setup the government but they forgot people don’t believe on conspiracy theories this is Maharashtra no one will fool with their stories
Even a layman can understand what the largest party is doing to break MVA government
There are many A to Z list of Worlds largest party and some of them are below
Rafale scam, bus scandal, Dal Scandal, Petrol Scam, CD scandal, Demonetization Scam, The best of all Privatization of Govt. assets
The reason for privatization is a joke as said by FM because they can’t operate LOL. Then why they are on chairs then.
What if companies CFO/CPO told to their boss or investors they we can’t operate it please sell your company
These scams are way bigger then the one which they are trying to prove here.
If yoh have any proof regarding those utopian scams then you can go to court !! And if not then shut your mouth
WHY DO YOU ALLOW SUCH RUBBISH TO BE PUBLISHED AND INSULT THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE READERS. ACCORDING TO THE COLUMNIST’S LOGIC, EVEN HITLER WOULD QUALIFY AS AN ANGEL OF MERCY. PLEASE DO NOT TREAT A SERIOUS SUBJECT SO FRIVOLOUSLY.
The MVA govt. will be there till next election. All the three parties have tasted power and will not give up. eg This week Jalgoan and Sangli BJP corporators switched sides to elect non BJP Mayors.
How beautifully crafted, Zainab Sikandar has done a great job furthering the propaganda which forms very soul of jihad.Jihadisi do know that on which counts they can criticize government.
Zainab has tried to say what BJP has done, created things like CWG scam,coal scam,2G scam, Augusta chopper scam etc to dethrone congress while infact there were no such things. And to dethrone maharashtra gov has crafted Anatolia, corona, sushant issue, has crafted drug case and all this were not present. Best of luck jihadi.
LMAO. chaddi sena and its followers are no different than jihadis and islamists. Both are degenerated trash.
Chadhi dena is better than Sonia sena
Ek Tum Biased Article. There is no modest anger on the corrupt Police & Maha Vasuli Agadi. What else you can expect from a minority author on BJP & What else you can exect from THE PRINT, which always against NDA. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME.
LOL anything more?
Even a layman can understand what BJP is doing to break MVA government
They have said earlier this government will not even exist for 11 days and rest is the history ROFL
But they are trying very hard but will not succeed and once the government is setup they will topple the biggest party in the world for sure. Just think is world largest party is not corrupt?
Rafale scam, bus scandal, CD scandal, Demonitization Scam, The best of all Privatization of Govt. assets
Why such shallow articles allowed here? This is certainly a low point for The Print.
The writer just can not see the bigger picture and lift himself from BJP hatred! This politician police nexum in looting the state can not be hidden behind BJP’s desire to dethrone etc..
This author is dumb
O Zainab..
I pity your soul which feels Maha govt is innocent…
It is cause normal for you is like Pakistan where jihadist comes and kills innocent young children in school…
That the govt is openly collecting hafta, targeting the biggest industrialist, attacking anyone who opposed them is good governance for you probably coz you take an example of good governance from probably Libya, Sudan or Taliban…
Sorry but our ideals are slightly higher than yours and we are sure that liberandus and jihadis like you will not succeed although you do have some more jafar like supporters called Shekhar Gupta…
But it won’t last…
Abhi Udhav and Pawar will go…
Don’t worry ur number will come and will send you to your ideal good governance countries like maybe Syria…
They will admire ur journalism with a some live ammunition…
HaHaHa. Since the BJP has so obviously failed in dethroning the Maharashtra government, the MVA has decided to lend a helping hand.
You don’t realize, but these kind of defense and blaming the BJP for everything, helps BJP. Your tired explanations only makes your arguments less convincing. It is amazing that when a scandal by MVA is staring at your face you are finding BJP plot in this? The MVA govt. has given the opportunity in a platter to BJP. The BJP had to do nothing. Would any opposition keep mum in this situation?
The writer of this article doesn’t know d ground reality in Maharashtra.She just called SS as secular lol!!
ill-informed opinion of ignorant journalists aka propagandists who sit and delhi and consider themselves as intellectuals.Acc to the IQ level of this writer BJP formed a govt wid PDP so is BJP secular?In j&k BJP & NC r in alliance for some districts,but the ill-informed writer of this article spends her tym 24*7 calling BJP as communal,infact her entire career is based on targetting BJP,if some day BJP loses she will be jobless.
The writer is completely ill-informed about the ground reality.I don’t understand why print lacks “efforts” to do ground reporting.SS karyakartas themselves don’t agree wid secular word linked to them but the writer is hell-bent on attaching that label to them.The writer really needs to work hard.Lack of efforts in ground reporting.
Wow so much pain in your axx
The article ignores the fundamental issues in Maharashtra politics. Kangana etc are just insignificant non-entities. The fundamental issues are reservation for the Maratha cast and perceived Brahminical image of the Maharashtra BJP. Modi dared to make a Brahmin CM for Maharashtra, as Bal Thackeray did in 1994 and had made Manohar Joshi CM. Later he retracted and substituted Joshi with Rane. It was too late. He lost in 1999 and Congress-NCP ruled Maharashtra for three successive terms. Now in 2019, though Fadnavis made special efforts for Maratha reservation, but Marathas, the dominant caste, were not impressed. They again put their trust in Pawar. It is evident that in Maharashtra BJP cannot win on its own. It will always require an ally. That could be either Shiv Sena or NCP. But when these two allied and Congress too jumped in, it was game over for BJP. It was a tactical lapse to ignore its traditional ally – the Shiv Sena. Had the BJP agreed to share CM’s post with the Sena, they could have ruled the state even in 2019 and dominated the affairs of the state, as Pawar does now. But the BJP didn’t and against their assumption, Congress allied with Shiv Sena. Very poor bargaining and ignoring an important ally has cost BJP dearly.
BJP will surely win on its own next time. Pawar Saheb has to retire some day and then the world knows about the CONgress Prince and SS next chain of Command.
BJP could not get clear majority due to seat sharing arrangements with SS. Believe me we had to vote for a rotton candidate just because BJP did not put up their own Candidate due above arrangement.
Next elections ( if at all this bunch can pull full term) BJP will contest at their own & I invite you to witness the thumping results.
What is this Print? Literally wasted my time though i already felt it by reading headline. You need to hire some neutral writer to write on something good instead of Masala and Anti BJP
Why did you even bother reading it in the first place? After all you have access to such ‘unbiased and objective’ news at your disposal like zee tv, Republic tv and times of India. LMAO The more you and the likes you try to distance yourselves from islamists and fundamentalist tards, the funnier it gets for me for you fail to see the irony in your behaviour, speech, and actions that you are exactly like those you detest. Same crap different smell kind of thing. Replace islam with fake nationalism and hinduism and you are havr something that is no different than 7th century backward mentality islamists. Indian people are such gullible and naive fools who think they are so smart, people like you can be brainwashed with couple of poorly produced propaganda videos.
I for one couldn’t careless about either, you are all trash and the faster we get rid you and the likes of you from the world the better chance the world has from becoming a dystopia for my future children.
Clearly, the writer is a visceral BJP hater who tries hard to whitewash the corrupt, incompetent, unnatural and unruly coalition that supposedly runs the Maharashtra State Government. The MVA sarkar has miserably failed in governance. Covid 19 is on the rampage, administration is busy bickering and looting the exchequer. The BJP will not have to do much to oust this troika from power.
Netflix will surely make a movie, on how a son destroys the fathers legacy & joins with ppl father hated the most, jus for power, which his father always didn’t wanted it, but son wants it so badly …..
In Shekhar Gupta’s words only, this propaganda article is really SHAMBOLIC.
Even if BJP is working on a plot, we should all root for a corruption free government in all corners of the country and demand the same from all parties, BJP, Congress, Shiv Sena or anyone else. if the neighbour you hate also hates the village thief does not make a case for one to find some flaws in the neighbour’s smile when the village thief is caught.
It was the BJP which was destroying Houses of Hindu celebrities in Maharashtra turned into Pakistan?? Attacking navy offices by Jihadi sena was a coincidence too?? Arresting of nationalist journalists was a sign of a healthy democracy??
The Drugs don’t come from Pakistan either!! 26/11 never happened!! 26/11 was not Islamic & Paki terrorism led by Congress’s Italian bar dancer too??!!
Palghar Sadhus were not killed by Sonia sena??
Any more lies from the mulla vaampanthi brigade??!!
In the name ” My Opinion” can anybody write these kind of shit news? . If yes, then please hire me I can write fiction and add illogical masala news to improvise Print sales.
?
the hatred for BJP lies in the name of author itself. Nothing more to add, you tried too many things even went on to abuse opposition to look you are impartial, but ‘Schchai chhup nahi sakti…
I continue to be amazed as to how can Shekhar / Print allow a hater to write articles like that. This is no unbiased journalism by any means. BJP won Maharashtra, can sometell tell her. Phew.
Who do you think unbiased in this world..? Arnab or you??
Sridhar and Zainab are most biased
BJP won Maharashtra na, that is why it is in power right now. Smh. We kicked BJP’s ass out of here. Stop being so salty about it.
When writer calls 3 loosing parties coming together ‘ election winners’, you know this duffer belongs to coupta school of journalism and stop reading further.
Absolutely!! @The Print is part of the Green-Red Viruse Nexus with which India & BJP/Hindus are attacked!!
Governments fall during elections, not by random allegations.
You seriously don’t know politics. No problem, but don’t poke your filthy nose just for sake of it.
Good summary of what is happening in Maharashtra but the presentation leaves an impression that it is all fault of BJP who is trying to create trouble as they want to destabilize the MVA Govt and take their revenge. What MVA is doing to the state and showing its deeply rotten state of affairs is completely overlooked. Complete ineptitude of the CM and his lack of any administrative ability and what a disaster for the state he has become is ignored. BJP can and should take advantage for such state of affairs and in case the Govt goes it will be because of the way MVA is functioning and not because BJP wants a revenge. MVA needs major overhaul .
The Print has become a shame on journalism , its seems that may be shooting people in broad daylight may not be enough to attribute responsibility to its political favorites Small suggestion though I know it will of no use – GROW A DAMN SPINE !!!!!
Correct!! Paki-congress anti Hindu & anti India Tukde gang in action!!
The author should not look at everything from the perspective of political throning/dethroning. People are tired of Covid and want logical conclusion of Sushant’s unfortunate death.
Sanjay Raut had indicated the power wielded by underworld earlier when the same SECULAR PARTIES were in POWER.
Most of the underworld dons were from a particular SECULAR VOTERS community.
The support of the muscle power of this SECULAR community is what defines Mr. Power
The author states “Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has evolved itself into a perfectly nationalist, Shivaji-loving, proudly Hindu-yet-secular front.”.
She has no idea how wrong she is. But, hey, how does it matter? This is The Print!!
Islamic Jihadist Zainab is burning ? , these self prapoganda secular libarads donot have any shame and word when secular congress join hands with Hindu radical shivsena, your days are over Zainab , no body cares what you Liberads write , except Turky Shekhar Guptha and his gang , keep burning ? maza ara ha hi ??
Are you new to the internet? Has nobody told you that putting random emojis in your reply/comment/rebuttal doesn’t make it sound or funny. You are under the delusion that your comment somehow rattles anyone or that it counters the article. At least learn some basic English before venture into trolling. Stick to what you know best like indulging in ‘mallu incest porn’ and eating idlis like a typically lungi.