Mumbai: As Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials were preparing to take him to their office Sunday, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut hugged his mother tightly, visuals of which went viral.
“Tujha mulga darnara nahi, ladhnara ahe (your son does not fear, he fights),” Raut, who walked out of his residence with a saffron stole wrapped around his neck, told her, according to Sena mouthpiece Saamana, of which he is executive editor.
What the Rajya Sabha MP told his mother that day has been his mantra these last two years.
The 60-year-old has been the loudest and most persistent voice among opposition leaders accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of misusing central agencies to target political rivals.
For over two years now, mornings have started with Raut on television, with his stinging commentary on the previous day’s political news. Almost all of his morning press conferences end with him accusing the BJP of arm-twisting political opponents using central agencies.
His allegations grew shriller post April this year, when the ED attached his properties for alleged money laundering in connection with its probe into irregularities in the Patra Chawl redevelopment case.
The former Marathi journalist came to be associated with the Shiv Sena in the 1980s, and over the last four decades, gradually became the voice of the party on television and in print through his piercing editorials.
His words and style indistinguishable from that of Sena founder Bal Thackeray and later son Uddhav, Raut also acquired prominence within the party due to his proximity to the Thackeray family.
Owing to his meteoric rise within the party and in Maharashtra’s political circles, Raut made many enemies along the way, several of them his own party colleagues.
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Close ties to Pawar, target of rebel camp
A day after the ED attached Raut’s properties in the Patra Chawl case, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar is said to have taken up the issue directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
That Raut was always close to Pawar, is no secret. So much so that Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole had last year slammed Raut as “Sharad Pawar’s spokesperson” amid differences between the allies that made up the former Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government — a tripartite coalition of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress. It is also well known that Raut played a key role in the formation of the MVA as the Sena’s emissary in 2019.
Many of the Sena MLAs and MPs who — under the leadership of now Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde — rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray over the last two months, made the same charge against Raut as Patole.
Last month, Deepak Kesarkar, spokesperson of the Shinde-led rebel group, called Raut Pawar’s “blue-eyed boy”, who was set to “finish off the Shiv Sena”.
One in three rebel MLAs squarely blamed Raut for their exit from the Sena, accusing him of derailing their reconciliation with party chief Uddhav.
Raut’s journey within Sena
Trying to trace the route of Raut’s journey from the advertising department of Marathi daily Loksatta in the 1980s to becoming a leader of reckoning in the Shiv Sena, is more difficult than the journey itself. The openness of his life makes it difficult to track the creases, if any.
In his nearly four-decade association with the Shiv Sena, Raut’s growth cannot be merely attributed to his proximity with the Thackerays — the late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and the incumbent chief Uddhav.
Those who know him closely say Raut has worked his way up without any shortcuts. As the executive editor of Saamana, it is mandatory for Raut to interact with the Thackerays on a daily basis, thereby leaving himself open to close scrutiny.
The sharp and witty style of his editorials in Saamana has a sizeable fan following. Considered to be the voice of the party chief, these written words are sacrosanct for the Sainiks.
In the years since he has taken over the reins at the paper, Raut is solely responsible for giving an entity-like status to the editorials.
“All newsrooms monitor the Saamana editorials closely every day. It has become like a beat,” said a Mumbai-based journalist who has been tasked with the job.
Raut’s interactions with Bal Thackeray gave the party founder a glimpse of his political acumen. His unflinching loyalty to the Shiv Sena chief saw him being elevated into Delhi’s political arena.
Raut was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2004 and is now in his fourth term.
He catapulted into prominence when the infighting between the Thackeray cousins — Uddhav and Raj — got ugly. Since he was considered to be a close friend of Raj Thackeray, Raut tried to patch things up.
In January 2006, when Raj Thackeray broke away from his uncle’s party, Raut’s daily visits to Krishna Kunj (Raj Thackeray’s residence) and then back to Matoshree (Bal Thackeray’s residence) made it to the TV channels by the hour.
When several leaders from the Shiv Sena switched sides to Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Raut’s decision to stay on with Bal Thackeray shocked many as he was seen as a sure-fire deserter. It did not earn Raut an elevated status in the party but it has made Uddhav Thackeray watch his own back since.
Although Raut, through his actions, has pledged his loyalty to the Shiv Sena, sources said he enjoys a cordial relationship with Uddhav.
“It is not a friendship like he has with Raj saheb. Uddhavji is not comfortable with this friendship,” said a source.
Raut’s steady rise in the Shiv Sena is directly connected to the inaccessibility of the Thackerays. Since he wrote the editorials and met the Thackerays or talked to them almost every day, Raut became the go-to man for the Sainiks and the media.
According to sources, Raut’s strongest asset is his ability to write and articulate the word of the Thackerays. “For the common Sainik, these editorials are Saheb’s aadesh (diktat),” said a source.
Through the editorials, Raut has managed to get a sizeable fan following amongst the Sainiks.
Film journalist Dilip Thakur met Raut in the early 1980s when both were freelance writers for Marathi magazine Ranjan. Although their career graph was similar upto a point, Raut’s picked up after he joined Saamana in 1992.
“He was someone who wanted to be different from the others. His contacts started growing as he grew in the Shiv Sena. He worked very hard to be where he is now. It is not easy to grow in the Shiv Sena,” said Thakur.
Although they continue to be friends, Raut’s hectic schedule has reduced the frequency of his interactions with Thakur.
The ‘workaholic’ from Alibaug
Raut belongs to Chondhi village in Alibaug (a coastal area close to Mumbai). Those on his speed dial are the envy of others.
Those close to Raut say he is a workaholic, and even postponed an angioplasty until the chest pain became unbearable.
“He believes that at least one page has to be written a day. Wherever he is, he writes that one page,” said a source.
After his writing stint with Ranjan, Raut went on to write for Marmik, the political magazine founded by Bal Thackeray much before he started Saamana. Bal Thackeray’s political satire in the form of cartoons made Marmik a popular read in erstwhile Bombay, which was caught in the throes of the Shiv Sena brand of agitational politics.
On 13 August 1984, as a writer for Marmik, Raut shared the stage with Bal Thackeray at the magazine’s foundation day celebrations at Shanmukhananda Hall. “Both of us got to sit next to Balasaheb on the stage,” said Thakur.
And though Raut moved from Marmik to Loksatta and then to Lokprabha, the impact of that meeting with Bal Thackeray left a lasting impression on him. Little did he know that that first meeting would convert into a job opportunity years later.
As he moved from one newsroom to another, so did his association with the Thackerays.
Raut also revered well-known musician Shrikant Thackeray, who was Bal Thackeray’s brother and Raj’s father. As a frequent visitor to this household, it was not long before that a friendship flourished between Raj Thackeray and Raut.
Banker Prakit Sarang and Raut were college mates at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar College of Commerce in Wadala, central Mumbai. “He was writing for Marmik when he was in college. We were fascinated to have a writer amongst us. We felt proud to know him,” said Sarang, who is a fan of Raut’s editorials.
Sarang attests to Raut’s ‘workaholic’ tag.
“I live in Parel. When he joined Saamana, the office was in Parel. I would drop in to chat with him many times. But five minutes into the chat he would tell me he had work to do. He did not allow friendships to interfere with his work,” said Sarang.
Raut’s writings have courted controversies on numerous occasions. In April 2015, a Saamana editorial drew sharp criticism for stating that the voting rights of Muslims should be taken away. Echoing Uddhav Thackeray’s sentiments, Raut had written that as long as Muslims are used as vote banks, they have no future.
Whenever the editorials have raised controversy and truths have become inconvenient, the Thackerays have maintained that they are Raut’s views and not theirs.
Many members of the extended Thackeray family are connected to Bollywood, and therefore, Raut’s foray into Bollywood was a natural progression. He produced and was the writer for the film Thackeray, a biopic on Bal Thackeray, which was released in December 2018.
Ahead of the film’s release, Raut had told ThePrint that the Sena founder’s life was no less than a Hollywood or Bollywood film plot. “All the masala required in a film is there in his life,” he had said.
Perhaps, the same could be said for Raut himself.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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