The Dharmaveer films in Marathi are about Eknath Shinde and his mentor Thane-based Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe.
In Dharmaveer 2, Shinde eclipses Dighe. When it hit the theatres in September, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis who attended the premiere was asked whether there would be a political thriller based on him too. The then deputy CM quipped, “I’ll write the script for Dharmaveer 3.”
Fadnavis’ remark, though made in jest, seems almost prophetic now with the leader having steered the Bharatiya Janata Party to its biggest-ever victory in Maharashtra.
The record tally of 132 has also killed the outgoing CM Eknath Shinde’s chances of getting an encore. Today, he is a lesser political magnate than he was two years ago. This is why Eknath Shinde is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.
While the BJP is yet to formally name its CM candidate, party leaders say, Fadnavis, who was the face of the BJP campaign, is the front-runner.
In 2022, a jubilant Shinde profusely thanked the BJP for “fulfilling Balasaheb Thackeray’s dream” by making him, a Shiv Sainik, the CM of Maharashtra. Fadnavis was snubbed. He wanted to stay out of the government and play the role of a “margadarshak” (advisor), but he had to take up the role of deputy CM as per his party’s bidding.
Two years later, that equation has been completely reversed. On Thursday, as Shinde, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Fadnavis was beaming from ear to ear, while Shinde wore a dry, sardonic look. Shah is said to have informed the leaders about his decision to install a BJP CM in Maharashtra.
And with that, Maharashtra is set for another round of rifts and conflicts between “ideological, natural allies” the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Only this time, it will be Shinde, and not Uddhav Thackeray, in the ring, head to head with the BJP.
Also read: Maharashtra results send a clear message—people want prosperity, not papaji ki jaagir
The loving brother
In 2022, when Shinde rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena with 39 other MLAs, he was at the mercy of the BJP.
He and his colleagues had given up power and ministerial posts to risk forming a government, which they said, would be of their choice and ideology with the BJP.
In April this year, a national BJP leader told ThePrint that it was a deliberate political decision to give Shinde the CM post. It helped send a message that the BJP wasn’t using Shinde’s Shiv Sena simply to come to power. Especially considering Uddhav Thackeray had often said that the BJP uses and throws regional outfits as it sees fit.
The ultimate aim was to weaken Uddhav Thackeray, the BJP leader had said, and Fadnavis’ direct involvement in the government would mean that it is still a government of the BJP.
In the early days of the Shinde-Fadnavis government, CM Shinde was often dismissed as BJP’s puppet. The criticism was exacerbated by incidents such as Fadnavis passing written notes to Shinde in the middle of press conferences, or snatching the microphone from Shinde to speak out of turn.
But, in just a few months, it was clear that Shinde was not about to take his role as the state’s leader and the face of the Shinde-Fadnavis government lightly. He started coming into his own, and in the process often clashed with Fadnavis over issues such as police and bureaucratic transfers.
Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil’s agitation for a Maratha quota, which started in August 2023, gave Shinde a perfect springboard. The lathi charge on the protest made Fadnavis, also the state’s home minister, lose favour with the Maratha community. On the other hand, Shinde, a Maratha, carefully cultivated a direct channel of communication with Jarange Patil, deputing an Officer on Special Duty to cater to his every requirement concerning the Maratha community.
Fadnavis, known to be the CM who drove Mumbai’s showpiece infrastructure projects from 2014 to 2019, was eclipsed by Shinde’s development works. Shinde also went all out to make the Mahayuti government’s ’Ladki Bahin’ scheme synonymous with his name and face. The other two leaders of the Mahayuti government—Ajit Pawar from the NCP and Fadnavis—also attempted the same.
“Shinde consistently spoke about how he has seen poverty and troubled times, and CM for him means ‘Common man’. He talked at length about how the most prestigious title he has got is that of a Ladka Bhau (loving brother), which he repeated even after coming out of the meeting with Shah where he is said to have been denied chief ministership,” political commentator Hemant Desai said.
Shinde helped the BJP achieve its political objective. He has maimed the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena to a point where questions are being raised about the party’s future.
But, in doing so, Shinde has created another challenger to the BJP—his own Shiv Sena.
As leaders from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena started demanding the CM’s post after the Assembly election results, some even borrowed BJP’s slogan of ‘Ek hain toh safe hain’ (Together we are safe).
The message was – ‘Eknath hain toh safe hain’ (With Eknath, we are safe).
Also read: Big strategies gave big results to Mahayuti in Maharashtra—and the story is far from over
BJP then and now
Shinde’s sulking may not result in any major political upheaval. His Shiv Sena is unlikely to walk away from the government, nor is it likely to actually hold the BJP hostage and get what it wants.
Yet, no one, across parties, is surprised at Shinde’s stance.
“We would have been surprised if his party did not demand to keep Shinde as CM. His party’s rank and file need to be shown that they have a leader who will demand power for the party. And through this whole exercise, he will be able to cut a better bargain for himself and his party than he would have had he simply given up the CM’s post,” a BJP leader who did not wish to be named said.
For some, it is almost a flashback of 2019 when the undivided Shiv Sena and BJP had fought the election in an alliance and then couldn’t agree on a power-sharing formula. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had accused the BJP of welching on its commitment to share the CM’s post and walked out of the alliance.
This is one stunt that Shinde can ill afford to pull. The BJP of 2019, and 2022, was well short of the majority mark and needed Shinde’s crutches to come to power.
But, in 2023, the BJP got itself an insurance policy in the form of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
The BJP is just shy of the halfway mark and 13 short of the majority mark in 2024. Cutting Shinde to size may reinforce Thackeray’s allegations about the BJP’s ‘use-and-throw’ strategy, but BJP will be able to form a government with or without Shinde. Ajit Pawar’s party has 41 MLAs and the leader has been quick to endorse Fadnavis as CM.
Having a Pawar on its side helps the BJP keep Shinde’s ambitions in check.
And when breaking away from the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray in 2022, Shinde had taken a hard ideological stand putting himself on a moral high ground.
The alliance with the BJP was in his words, a way of honouring Bal Thackeray’s wishes, following the path of Hindutva, and respecting the people’s mandate in 2019, which was for a government of the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena.
This leaves little scope for him to work out any permutations and combinations with other parties in Maharashtra.
Nevertheless, Shinde has won the battle for the real Shiv Sena in public court and bettered the undivided Shiv Sena’s 2019 performance. He seems to have lost the race for the CM’s chair, but the Shinde of 2024 is definitely stronger than the Shinde of 2022.
The problem is, so is the BJP.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
In its history Maharashtra has had only 2 CMs who have completed a full 5 year term. The first was Vasantrao Naik and the second was Devendra Fadnavis. The overrated Sharad Pawar never managed this feat. Hopefully Maharashtra will now see a stable 5 year term CM, leading to better outcomes for the state.
This is indeed tragic!
Two Gujaratis will decide who gets to be the CM of Maharashtra. And the one appointed as CM of Maharashtra will bow before the very same Gujaratis and take orders from them.
It’s good that Balasaheb is dead. He would not have been able to accept such humiliation.