Mumbai: On 18 November, 2012, as members of the Thackeray family performed the last rites before bidding a final farewell to their patriarch, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, his son Uddhav asked a member of the household staff to join the family.
This was Champa Singh Thapa, known as “Balasaheb’s shadow” in party circles, who took care of the Sena founder’s every big and small need.
On Monday, Thapa formally joined the Eknath Shinde-led rebel faction of the Shiv Sena in Thane, along with another long-time aide of Bal Thackeray, Moreshwar Raje.
Thapa joining the Shinde camp is neither a political blow to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena nor a significant political gain for the rebel faction.
However, it is important optics, as Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde tries to show how the people who were closest to Bal Thackeray are choosing his faction over Uddhav’s.
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‘Balasaheb’s shadow’
A Shiv Sena leader from the Thackeray camp who didn’t wish to be named told ThePrint that Thapa had worked for Bal Thackeray for nearly 30 years as his personal attendant.
“He would take care of Balasaheb’s food timings, give him his medicines, and get water for him and his visitors. He would be constantly seen with Balasaheb,” he said.
“After Maa Saheb (Bal Thackeray’s wife Meenatai Thackeray) passed away (in 1995), Thapa would also accompany Balasaheb everywhere on his tours,” he said.
A second Shiv Sena leader from the Thackeray camp said: “Balasaheb had distanced himself from Moreshwar Raje in the last few years of his life. (But) Thapa used to be around him all the time, as someone’s personal staff usually is. Balasaheb used to consider everyone around him to be part of the Shiv Sena family.”
Sources from the Thackeray camp said Thapa, a Nepali, had come to Mumbai seeking work, and K.T. Thapa, a former Shiv Sena corporator from Mumbai’s Bhandup suburb, introduced him to the Thackeray family.
Champa Singh Thapa continued to live in Matoshree, the Thackerays’ private residence, for a few months after Bal Thackeray’s death in 2012. While Thapa was never involved in politics in the course of his association with the Thackerays, he is said to have helped in starting the Shiv Sena’s unit in his home country, Nepal, sources from the Thackeray camp said.
“I used to take leave for only 15-20 days in a stretch of two years. Only on rare occasions would I go on a month-long leave. I used to get up at 6.30 am, give Saheb his favourite tea, and only after he went to sleep at night would I go to bed,” Thapa had told Mid-Day in 2013 in a rare interview.
A leader from the Shinde faction told ThePrint: “Thapa and Shinde saheb were on good terms as Shinde saheb used to visit Matoshree frequently as a senior leader of the Shiv Sena. Thapa wasn’t very happy after the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, and had met Shinde saheb a few times even before he became CM.”
Uddhav had, post the 2019 Maharashtra state polls, broken the Shiv Sena’s long-time partnership with the BJP and formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with the ideologically mismatched Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.
He subsequently became the chief minister of the state, but was forced to resign on 29 June this year after a revolt by Shinde — who had the backing of the majority of Shiv Sena MLAs — toppled the MVA government. A day later, Shinde took over as Maharashtra CM, with the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.
On Monday, Shinde formally inducted Thapa into his Sena faction by presenting him with a shawl, a bouquet and a saffron sash. Thapa told reporters that he’d decided to go with Shinde because he is “taking Balasaheb’s ideology forward”.
Shinde said: “Thapa has given his backing to the Shiv Sena that follows Balasaheb’s thoughts.”
‘Psychological warfare’
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction claims to be the real torchbearer of Bal Thackeray’s ideology, and the inductions send the message that the people closest to the senior Thackeray and members of his lineage are acknowledging this.
In July, Bal Thackeray’s daughter-in-law Smita Thackeray, former wife of Jaidev Thackeray, met Shinde, calling it a courtesy visit. The same month, Nihar Thackeray, Bal Thackeray’s grandson, met Shinde and pledged support to his faction. Nihar Thackeray is the son of Bal Thackeray’s eldest son, Bindumadhav, who died in 1996 in an accident on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.
“This is almost like psychological warfare,” political commentator Hemant Desai told ThePrint. “Right from the shakha pramukhs (heads of Shiv Sena’s lowest administrative units) to senior leaders, everyone who went to meet Balasaheb Thackeray in Matoshree would see Thapa standing in the corner. Everyone knew how close Thapa was to Balasaheb.”
He said the idea is to send the message that if someone this close to Bal Thackeray can leave, there must definitely be something wrong with the way Uddhav has been handling things.
“Shinde’s strategy may not work though. The Thackeray family isn’t falling for this bait, choosing not to react,” Desai added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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