Mumbai: For over five decades, Shivaji Park in Mumbai’s Dadar has been the Shiv Sena’s venue for its annual Dussehra rally. But, following the rancorous split in the party and an ongoing dispute over the ‘real’ Shiv Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction is no longer on such firm ground about the site.
Leaders of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena have alleged that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai’s civic body, is sitting on its request for permission to use the Shivaji Park grounds for its annual rally.
They fear that the new Eknath Shinde-led government may try to use its power to deny them permission to use the ground for the rally, which has grown to become synonymous for the party and a medium for it to share its near-term political agenda.
Last Saturday, Sena leader and former minister Aaditya Thackeray told mediapersons in Nagpur that despite them sending an application to the BMC regarding the rally on Dussehra, which falls on 5 October this year, the corporation has not yet accepted it.
Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray was insistent Monday that the party will hold its rally at Shivaji Park irrespective of whether an official permission is obtained.
On the same day, a member of the Eknath Shinde faction, Naresh Mhaske, picked up cudgels and said the Thackeray faction had “no right” to seek permission since they had “forsaken” the teachings of Bal Thackeray, the party’s founder.
The BMC on its part has denied withholding permission, saying officials are busy with preparations for the 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival, which begins on 31 August.
Shinde, now the chief minister of Maharashtra, had rebelled along with 40 Shiv Sena MLAs and a few independents against the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government — a coalition of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Congress — in June. Shinde had proclaimed that the MVA alliance was “unnatural”.
His faction maintained that the BJP, with its emphasis on Hindutva, is more aligned with Bal Thackeray’s ideology and, therefore, a more suitable partner. Facing the prospect of a floor test in the Maharashtra assembly, Uddhav had resigned as CM on 29 June. The next day, the Shinde faction and the BJP formed government in the state.
What’s not so cut and dried is the tussle over who are the rightful claimants to the Shiv Sena’s name, symbol (a bow and arrow), and legacy. The Uddhav and Shinde factions both claim to be the “real” Shiv Sena and petitions on this matter have reached the Supreme Court, which referred the dispute last week to a Constitution Bench, although the hearing is yet to happen.
While the court is one site for the battle, another more symbolic one is Shivaji Park.
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Why is Shivaji Park so important to the Sena?
The Shiv Sena was born on 19 June, 1966, at Bal Thackeray’s Ranade Road residence in Dadar. Shortly thereafter, he announced in his weekly magazine Marmik that he would address his first meeting of party workers on Dussehra — 30 October that year — at Shivaji Park.
The venue was already imbued with political meaning. According to political analyst Hemant Desai, Shivaji Park had served as an important site for protests during the Samyukta Maharashtra movement of the 1950s that demanded a separate Marathi-speaking state out of Bombay State, which until 1960 also comprised large swathes of present-day Gujarat.
“During the Samyukta Maharashtra protests, many rallies would be held at Shivaji Park and Prabodhankar Thackeray (father of Bal Thackeray) would participate and address them,” Desai said.
When Bal Thackeray held his first official rally at the park on the Dussehra of 1966, it drew huge crowds and signalled the start of a tradition.
Every year since then, the Sena has held a Dussehra rally. Until his death in 2012, the senior Thackeray, a powerful orator, would address large gatherings here, laying out the highlights of his party’s gameplan for that year.
It was at Dussehra rallies in Shivaji Park that Thackeray made big announcements, from the Sena’s opposition to India-Pakistan cricket matches to the entry of his grandson Aaditya into politics as the chief of the party’s youth wing, the Yuva Sena, in 2010.
Even his message to Sainiks where he asked them to take care of Uddhav and Aaditya, which was played as a recorded message in his last Dussehra address.
At his last Dussehra address on 24 October, 2012, which was a video broadcast due to his failing health, Bal Thackeray railed against the Congress and NCP, and sought support for his son and grandson. “You took care of me,” he said. “Now, take care of Uddhav and Aaditya.”
When Thackeray died weeks later, his last rites were conducted at Shivaji Park and a memorial now stands there in his honour.
The party’s headquarters, Sena Bhawan, which was built in the early 1970s, is just about 200 metres away from the ground.
From 2013 onwards, Uddhav has addressed the annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park. Like his father, he too has used it as a forum for major pronouncements and announcements.
In 2018, Uddhav announced at the Dussehra rally that he would visit Ayodhya on 25 November that year, and asked the BJP-led government to spell out the date of construction of the Ram temple.
In November 2019, he took oath as chief minister from Shivaji Park. In his first rally as CM, he jibed at the BJP and asked the party to refrain from teaching him about Hindutva but instead take lessons from the RSS.
“Bal Thackeray and later Uddhav would set the narrative, be it of Hindutva or about Marathi pride at these rallies and Shiv Sainiks would accept the narrative set by the party chief,” Desai said.
The arrangements for the rally and bringing people from different parts of the state to Mumbai were the responsibilities of MLAs and leaders of constituencies, he added.
Even before the party chief’s address, the atmosphere would be buzzing, with folk music performances and speeches by local leaders. When the chief did arrive, Desai said, it was greeted as no less than the entry of “a Maratha king”.
What’s getting in the way?
For the last 25 years, the BMC has been a Shiv Sena bastion. This means that technicalities such as getting permission for the Dussehra rally from the civic body have been a non-issue.
However, the tenure of the BMC general body expired in March and the municipal corporation is currently under an administrator who reports directly to the state government.
This year, the run-up to Dussehra has not been so smooth.
“We are trying continuously trying to get permission from BMC but they haven’t accepted it yet. But as you know this is a government that is trying to oppress the opposition. And this government has not yet given us the permission,” Aaditya Thackeray alleged when speaking to mediapersons last week.
Sena leader and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar told ThePrint that the Shiv Sena usually applies for permission during the Ganesh festival to avoid last-minute preparations.
“We normally apply during Ganapati only and we get the permission in the middle of the festival itself. Because after Ganesh festival is the fifteen-day inauspicious period and then Navratri begins. So we won’t get enough time to prepare,” she said.
“I hope that Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will not play dirty politics and that he will help us in getting the permission. Else, the party chief will decide where to hold the rally. However, we are hopeful of getting the permission,” she added.
Uddhav, meanwhile, has used assertive language. While addressing mediapersons Monday, he said that the Shiv Sena’s annual gathering will take place at “Shivtirth” — the Sena’s term for the venue.
When asked about the BMC permission, he said: “Tantrik mantrik (hocus pocus)… I don’t care (about technical issues). Shiv Sena will have its Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park.”
The ball is in BMC’s court
When ThePrint spoke to a BMC official responsible for looking after permissions, he said that the application had been received but would be looked into after the Ganesh festival concludes.
“We received the application last week. But the Ganapati festival is round the corner and the priority of the corporation is ensuring that the festival goes smoothly. The date for which they need the permission is still far away. We will look into their application once the festival is over,” the official said.
MLA of Dadar and Mahim constituency, Sada Sarvankar told ThePrint that the matter was for the BMC to decide. “We [the Eknath Shinde faction] are not doing any preparations for the Dussehra rally. We are not involved in any of this. It is the commissioner’s (BMC) decision to give the permission or not. It normally is given 8-10 days before the event, not two months prior.”
Commenting on these developments, Fadnavis, who is also the home minister, told the media Sunday: “I am not aware what the Thackeray-led Sena had done. But as a home minister, I can say everything will be done according to the law. Nothing will go against the law.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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