For Swararaj Shrikant Thackeray, more popularly known as Raj Thackeray, being in news for all the wrong reasons is easier than making all the right noises.
Little wonder, his meeting with former Congress president Sonia Gandhi Monday made it to the top headlines, albeit only for a day.
One of the most important fallouts of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections has been the total marginalisation of some political leaders. Young leaders like Akhilesh Yadav in the north, T.T.V. Dhinakaran in the south and Raj Thackeray in the west have been swept away by the second Modi wave. Of course, at least half-a-dozen dynastic protégés in the Congress are staring at an uncertain future too.
From Modi fan to political wilderness
But just five years ago, it was a different story. In 2014, the dyed-in-the-wool politician – many see him as the poster boy of strident Hindutva – was an ardent fan of then-prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Also read: Now, Raj Thackeray plans anti-BJP front with help from Kejriwal, Mamata, Stalin, Akhilesh
He went all the way to Gujarat in 2011 as Modi’s guest and returned a supporter. On his part, Modi praised him for choosing Gujarat for a study tour instead of Switzerland. Raj Thackeray even campaigned for ‘Narendra bhai as PM’ ahead of the 2012 Lok Sabha elections.
The script, however, changed with the 2014 Maharashtra assembly election results in October.
After the BJP’s sweeping win in the Lok Sabha elections, the party performed exceedingly well in the Maharashtra polls too. The BJP and its long-time ally Shiv Sena contested the election separately, with the BJP emerging as the biggest gainer.
While the BJP won 122 of the 260 seats it contested, the Shiv Sena got just 63 seats despite contesting on 282 seats. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) was the biggest loser – it contested on 219 seats and won a single seat. This dashed Thackeray’s any hope of playing a kingmaker in Maharashtra politics.
The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the 288-member assembly. It no longer needed the support of the Shiv Sena to form the government as Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) offered outside support. Yet, it chose to go with the Shiv Sena.
By doing so, the BJP effectively distanced Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena from Raj Thackeray’s MNS. A Shiv Sena-MNS camaraderie could have meant trouble for the BJP in coming municipal elections. By ensuring that the two parties don’t come together, the BJP managed to displace the NCP, the Congress and, to some extent, even the Shiv Sena in the subsequent civic polls in the state.
Raj Thackeray and his party were pushed towards political wilderness.
2019 and beyond
Raj Thackeray now desperately needed a political godfather to mentor him. NCP chief and a veteran in Maharashtra politics Sharad Pawar reportedly came to his rescue.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Thackeray adopted a different strategy. His party decided not to contest the election but campaign against Narendra Modi.
Also read: Raj Thackeray is the biggest loser in Maharashtra and he didn’t even contest elections
Raj Thackeray drew exceptionally large crowds at public meetings before the 2019 elections. His resemblance to uncle Balasaheb Thackeray in looks, mannerism and oratory made him an instant hit.
But in a democracy, political fortunes are decided by the ballot, not speeches.
If the 2014 assembly election was a defeat, the 2019 Lok Sabha election was a wash-out for Raj Thackeray. He was neither able to dent the prospects of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance nor was he successful in adding to the tally of Sharad Pawar’s NCP.
Post-23 May, all parties, except the BJP, seem to be in a state of flux. Not just the Congress, the NCP, too, is facing an existential crisis. There is speculation that several NCP leaders are looking for greener pastures.
Raj Thackeray has limited choices. He can swallow his ego and join the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, which is extremely unlikely. Or, he can continue to work with the NCP, but given the Lok Sabha debacle, he may want to look beyond the party. The next best option is to align with the Congress.
A new alliance?
Just a few months ago, the Congress did not want to touch the MNS with a barge pole. It had vehemently ruled out inducting Raj Thackeray’s MNS into the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra.
But the Sonia Gandhi-Raj Thackeray meet could change that.
Is it possible that the NCP veteran could have written a new script for Raj Thackeray to save his own party from ignominy if not to help the cub politician under his care?
A larger political formulation (NCP+Congress+MNS) is perhaps the only way the non-BJP parties can hope to challenge the Fadnavis government and prevent a total defeat in the state elections due later this year.
Also read: How Raj Thackeray went from being freedom’s foe to liberal poster boy
The next few weeks can give us a clearer picture of whether the already-sinking Congress is serious about accommodating the MNS in its scheme of things.
But for that to happen, Raj Thackeray will have to jettison his parochial political stand on non-Marathis and his radical Hindutva rhetoric, which he claims to have inherited from his uncle.
But the leopard can’t change its spots, or can it?
The author is former editor of ‘Organiser’. Views are personal.
They are just shame on Thakre name. Balasaheb was the only one with pure blood. He is still living in the heart of the Hindus. Look them they are now bent to the foreigner waitress.
सगळे reply बघता एक कळत की bottom line is… मोदीजी नी राजची अवस्था वाईट करून टाकलीये. लोक बोलल्यावर त्यांना घरात घुसून मारण सोप्प आहे पण स्वतःच्या मनात घुसून विचार करण कठीण आहे.
लोकाना घरात घुसून मारल्याने मत मिळत नसतात तर त्यांच्या मनात घुसून घर केल्याने मत मिळतात.
1. One just needs only common sense to understand why MNS boss Raj Thackeray is do desperate as a politician. His party has been defeated badly and that is why he is a frustrated man. 2. Truth is that right now he cannot do anything except raising irrelevant questions about Electronic Voting Machines. His meeting with Smt Sonia Gandhi is, I am sure, the lowest point in his long apolitical career. 3. I say that if Raj Thackeray wishes to be relevant in Maharashtra’s political scene, he would have to first seek answers to some basic questions. What were reasons for poor performance of his party MNS, in 2014 Maharashtra Assembly election? (b) What has he achieved during five years since 2014? 4. Is it not true that Raj Thackeray made a fool of himself him by joining hands with NCP in recently held Lok Sabha election? 5. Regional parties, as we all know, were setup, survived and grew during last four decades. During seventies and few later decades Congress was only national party. But Congress miserably failed to give political space to many unorganized sections of society giving an opportunity to regional leaders to form anti-Congress political outfits. 6. I say that regional parties or their alliances cannot form a stable government in the Centre and from that point of view role of regional parties like BSP, SP, RJD, NCP, Trinamool Congress, TDP, and MNS should be restricted to bare minimum.
The fact that crowds gathering for his speeches not converting to votes is something he should introspect. Once an emerging face of Maharashtra, he is now being used by political parties against each other as a mere tool. It is high time he understands and gets his act together. MNS is a separate political party capable of fighting and winning on its own. If he himself does not believe that, how will his party workers or voters believe?? Calling all his party members and giving them guidelines to improve the ‘toad foad’ image will only help. No one wants a ‘Mumbai Bandh’ now unlike 25 years back when we used to be in awe if Shiv Sena used to do it. That was then and this is now. People now need some positive and corrective measures being taken to get impressed. With the flood like situations in many parts of Maharashtra during these rains, no political party workers are seen doing some rapid action to rescue people stuck. There is only blame game as to who should be responsible. So meeting party leaders in order to form coalition shows sign of weakness. I would rather want a Maratha leader who wins even 1 seat on his own and then negotiates welfare matters of his state with whoever is the Ruling party.
Bagha patla tar haan bola. Je saglyaanchya manaat aahe, te bol lo. ??
Disclaimer: I am not in favor of any particular political party, I only favor good Governance.
What a biased review I must say. These days these leftists (the hindu, the print, NDTV..) have people who are not matured enough to accept and appreciate unless it’s a khan out there. English on the other hand is pathetic and it seems like somebody from Bangladesh has just come to India through illegal means. Anyways right now I feel I am wasting my time over this.
First of all he’s not a loser at all. It requires great courage to stand tall and firm with a decision. Modi hasn’t been firm on any decision taken by him till now. I personally feel that the writer should improve his knowledge or else should properly translate the Marathi words spoken by him or the ones which he’s has heard. I think this report is nonsensical.
This man seems to be desparare for survival. Seems to be changing his stand frequently. It is OK but is suffering from egoism which appears on his face. He has all the qualities of his uncle except this. Does he ever discuss with his party workers before taking such drastic steps or it does not matter for him? So far his party has not done anything for the local people and hence was thrown out from Nasik and Pune municipal corporations and now seeking support for survival. He will surely survive if is honest and proves it.
Writer of this article seems to be avid modi supporter. Whatever may be his political motto, you need guts to stand against such a big leader who has got support from nook and corner of the country…. You even need guts to go against him….. But this man openly campaigned against him where he did not have his own candidates…… Especially in a state like maharashtra where opposition leader of congress himself ran away to bjp to save his political career….. This man may have failed today but youth of maharashtra believe in him and he will surely succeed one day…… You can love him or hate him, you cant ignore him……….
Sir please listen the raj thakre speech, he is not fan of modi, I thik ur मराठी is poor
If had praised Modi then Sheshadriji would have written tribute in praise of RT former Bhai of PM. For whatever reason he has atleast shown the courage of meeting leader of sinking ship at a time when leaders running towards party in power.