Mumbai: On 28 June, two days before completing a year in office, the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra held a marathon cabinet meeting, taking no fewer than 31 decisions.
While the proceedings were a little more frantic than usual, government officials told ThePrint that the Wednesday meeting was reflective of the governing style of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.
The government appears to be driven by a sense of urgency, speedily pushing decisions, including many of the populist and political variety.
At the aforementioned cabinet meeting, for instance, the government took the decision to name two showpiece infra projects after Hindu ideologue Veer Savarkar and BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee respectively, and a set of clinics after Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.
“The decisions are being taken almost like there is no tomorrow,” a senior IAS officer handling a significant department in the state government told ThePrint.
The officer’s statement is befitting considering how the Shinde-Fadnavis government came to power.
One year ago, Shiv Sena’s Shinde rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, comprising the undivided Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress, causing it to fall with the support of 39 MLAs.
Shinde then allied with the BJP to form the government in Maharashtra, becoming the Chief Minister when many in political circles expected Fadnavis, a former CM, to hold the top post.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis, who initially announced he would support the government only from the outside, was ordered by the BJP to take up the post of Deputy CM.
Since taking their oath on 30 June last year, the government has faced legal challenges, with the Opposition claiming its formation to be unconstitutional.
Finally, in May, the Supreme Court gave the government a breather by asking Speaker Rahul Narwekar, a BJP MLA, to take a call on the disqualification petitions against Shinde and other MLAs who rebelled with him.
The next challenge will be at the hustings. The Shinde-led government has just over a year to go before the next assembly poll. It also has to prove its mettle in the upcoming elections to 15 local bodies and zilla parishad polls, not to speak of the 2024 Lok Sabha contest.
Dr. Sanjay Patil, a researcher from Mumbai University’s department of civics and politics, told ThePrint that the government’s focus seems to be on showcasing their swift decision-making and connecting with the people, but these initiatives appear to be driven with sights on the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
“These efforts are all about short-term image-building and branding. This one year has not shown any long-term strategy of the government,” he added.
In its first year, the Shinde-Fadnavis government has also faced criticism for its media blitzkrieg of advertising and government events, maintaining a slim cabinet without any women, losing major investments to neighbouring Gujarat, overturning several decisions made by the former MVA government, and making decisions with a clear political imprint.
Moreover, internal friction between the two ruling allies of the Shinde-Fadnavis government has also been apparent.
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Populist, political, polarising?
In almost every speech that CM Shinde has delivered in the state legislative assembly so far, irrespective of the subject, he has sneaked in mentions of how he rebelled against the Thackeray-led MVA government and caused it to fall.
“This government has not been able to come out of the bubble of having taught a lesson to Uddhav Thackeray. The CM is busy projecting, conserving, and protecting his own image as the leader. And Fadnavis is yet to adjust to his demotion,” political commentator Sanjay Jog told ThePrint.
He noted that while the government is pushing infrastructure projects on one hand, there also seems to be an increase in polarisation due to the “competitive Hindutva” between the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
“Communal conflicts are increasing across Maharashtra and the Deputy CM is making statements about a potential love jihad law,” he said.
Immediately after the Shinde-led government assumed power, they also put numerous decisions made by the MVA government on hold, cancelled government resolutions, and initiated inquiries into projects and schemes of the previous dispensation.
For instance, the government shifted the Metro car shed for Mumbai’s first underground Metro corridor back to Goregaon’s Aarey Colony, which the previous Thackeray-led government had scrapped. It also overturned the previous government’s decision to rename Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv from the last cabinet meeting before Thackeray quit as CM.
Later, it passed these renaming decisions as its own in another cabinet meeting.
The Shinde-Fadnavis government prioritised a slew of populist decisions with a political tint, including bringing back Fadnavis’s pet Jal Yukta Shivar scheme, reinstating pension for those jailed during the emergency period, and giving out free ration kits to the poor on Diwali and Gudhi Padwa.
A second senior IAS officer who did not wish to be named said every time a new government comes, it postures by expressing doubts about the efficiency of the previous government.
“This government did the same,” he said, giving the example of Shiv Bhojan, a scheme to provide highly subsidised meals, and a pet project of Uddhav Thackeray.
“They questioned schemes such as Shiv Bhojan, saying it was used to benefit members of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and publicly announced an inquiry. After conducting an inquiry, the government realised that was not the case,” he said.
The official added that the department of food and civil supplies has reviewed the scheme to improve it for efficiency. “But we used to do that in the previous government too,” he said.
The first IAS officer added that several schemes introduced under the MVA government, particularly in departments like tourism and environment held by Aaditya Thackeray, had been put in cold storage.
However, rifts seem to have also appeared between Shinde and Fadnavis, who was Maharashtra CM from 2014 to 2019.
Jog said that the recent advertisement controversy highlighted this friction.
Earlier this month, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena published a full-page advertisement in major papers to showcase Shinde’s popularity over Fadnavis, citing a survey. The advertisement ruffled feathers within the alliance and was followed by a second advertisement the next day with Fadnavis and Shinde’s photo together.
Later, speaking to The Indian Express, Fadnavis said that he and Shinde had a relationship of “mutual respect” and one advertisement was not going to change that.
Infrastructure and investments
Throughout the one year, there have been multiple photos and videos of Shinde and Fadnavis inspecting mega infrastructure projects, especially in Mumbai— one of the 15 cities where civic elections will be held this year or in early 2024.
Key milestones in these projects are often celebrated with grand bhoomipujans or inaugurations with the CM or deputy CM in attendance, and the media always in tow.
A third state government official said on condition of anonymity that work has been progressing at a good clip under the new dispensation.
“When this government took over, circumstances had changed. We were out of the Covid-19 pandemic and work was going on faster. To this government’s credit, it did not cause any impediments to work that was underway. War room meetings were re-started to clear any hurdles,” he said.
Fadnavis had introduced the ‘war room’ concept when he was CM, bringing representatives of all departments in one room and clearing hurdles immediately.
The government has, however, had to face much fire from the Opposition for losing big-ticket industrial investments such as Vedanta-Foxconn and Tata Airbus to Gujarat.
The Shinde government has been battling the allegations with claims of how it has already held five meetings of the cabinet sub-committee on industries in one year and has been regularly clearing crores of projects.
According to a statement from the CM’s office, the sub-committee cleared investments worth Rs 40,000 crore in the latest such meeting on Wednesday.
An official from the state industries department, however, said that the government could not claim all the credit for this.
“Investments have been coming to Maharashtra because organically the state will always attract industrial players. However, there’s not been much special effort in the past year to actively scout investments for Maharashtra,” he told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
This official said that while losing the Vedanta-Foxconn investment was a huge public relations disaster for the government, it wasn’t an altogether bad development for the state.
“There were concerns about the amount of concessions that the state government had offered the joint venture,” he said.
Lean cabinet, ‘no long-term vision’
For almost 45 days after the state government was formed, it had just a two-member cabinet — CM Shinde and Deputy CM Fadnavis.
Finally, in August 2022, the governor inducted 18 more ministers — nine each from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP.
However, the government still continues to be a two-man show with Shinde and Fadnavis having kept 20 departments with themselves, including expansive portfolios such as urban development, housing, finance, and home.
Both CM and Deputy CM have set multiple deadlines for cabinet expansion, but have yet to meet any.
BJP sources said the cabinet expansion is stuck largely due to negotiations over how many and which ministers to include from both sides. They say, the BJP has also demanded dropping of a few cabinet ministers who have faced graft allegations.
State government officials say that daily administration is not impacted by ministers holding multiple portfolios, but a lean cabinet presents challenges in terms of long-term strategising and visionary leadership.
A thin cabinet also ends up being problematic during legislative sessions, they say.
To address this issue, Shinde temporarily assigns departments to other ministers for the duration of the session. However, these ministers are not necessarily well versed with all subjects of these departments, which hinders their ability to respond effectively on the floor of the house, officials say.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis, who doesn’t employ the same strategy as Shinde, has to keep shuttling between the lower and upper houses.
“Experienced ministers can handle multiple portfolios, but for those who haven’t had much administrative experience, having more than one portfolio means most of the time is spent in basic day-to-day firefighting,” the first official quoted said. “There is no long-term vision.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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