Mumbai: For the first time in the 57 years of the Shiv Sena’s history, there will be two foundation day celebrations in Mumbai on Monday.
The rival factions of Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde will organise the two events.
This will also be the first time the foundation day will be celebrated since the party split last year when Shinde along with 39 other party MLAs rebelled against the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on 20 June, 2022.
Since then, the party’s name and the symbol of ‘bow and arrow’ was allotted to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who formed the government with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Like the two Dussehra rallies, Uddhav and Shinde are expected to deliver their speeches almost at the same time in the evening in what is expected to be a show of one-upmanship for claiming Bal Thackeray’s legacy and ideology.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena will have its event at NESCO ground in Goregaon in northwest Mumbai, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) will hold its event in Shanmukhanand Hall at Sion in central Mumbai. Both sides claim to be the real Shiv Sena.
“Many tried to finish Shiv Sena but every time it came back strongly. Shiv Sena came to power in Maharashtra and Delhi only because of Balasaheb Thackeray. Nobody can steal Balasaheb Thackeray ideology,” Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut told reporters in Mumbai.
Eknath Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde had said that workers from across Maharashtra will arrive at Nesco ground on Monday in a show of strength.
The Shiv Sena was founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who championed the cause of the sons of the soil. Later, Thackeray turned to Hindutva and formed a government with the BJP for the first time in 1995.
After Thackeray died in 2012, his son Uddhav led the party until a vertical split by Shinde created two factions. The Uddhav faction is part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which also included the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Also Read: How Uddhav is rebuilding his Sena for 2024 after Shinde’s defection blow
Poster, video wars
Ahead of the foundation day celebration, the Uddhav faction released a video with Shiv Sena theme song music in the backdrop. The video showed a timeline of the party and how it was founded by Bal Thackeray.
Interestingly, the video stops in 2019 when Uddhav became the chief minister of the MVA government.
“It is the foundation day today. We have weathered many storms in the last 57 years…many people came and went, but the Shiv Sena withstood those storms,” Raut said.
On the other hand, the Shinde faction has installed hoardings which prominently posted pictures of Bal Thackeray along with Anand Dighe, the political mentor of the Maharashtra chief minister. “Amhi Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena. Asel Amchi Kayam Saath. 365 divas, 24 taas (We are Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena. We pledge our support forever 365 days, 24 hours),” reads the posters.
On Sunday, the Shiv Sena (UBT) organised a meeting of party workers in Worli Mumbai where Uddhav attacked the state government as well as questioned PM Narendra Modi on his silence over Manipur.
But on the foundation day event, he is expected to give a speech strongly criticising the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis-led government ahead of the elections.
Meanwhile, sources in the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena told ThePrint that the CM’s popularity is growing and since the name and symbol is with his side, they are the ’real’ Shiv Sena carrying forward the legacy of Bal Thackeray who set up the party 57 years ago.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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