Shiv Sena is a Hindu right-wing party founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, then a political cartoonist, in Maharashtra. The party fought for the rights of the Marathis in the face of a wave of immigration from Kerala and other southern states in the 1960s. But from pro-Maratha, it soon took on the image of being a pro-Hindu party, and has faced charges of inciting hate and participating in the violence, leading up to the Bombay riots of 1992-1993.
In alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena came to power in Maharashtra in 1995. The alliance remained till 2019, except for a brief breakup in 2014. It was in 2019, that the Shiv Sena, now under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, decided to break with the BJP, and joined hands with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — parties ideologically opposed to it. This led to a split in 2022, when another Shiv Sena emerged under Eknath Shinde.
Rebellion, though, is not new to the party. The Sena split in 1991 when senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal quit along with many MLAs and workers. Then, in 2005, Narayan Rane quit and took several lawmakers along with him. Uddhav Thackeray’s cousin, Raj, left the party along with several lawmakers and workers in 2006.
Two issues are getting mixed up in the reservation debate : economic deprivation and social discrimination. Dalits, who have created their own elite over three generations benefiting from affirmative action, claim, somewhat disingenuously, that even those members of the community who have prospered still feel the sharp edge of social prejudice. So their claim to reservation is not just that they are poor but that society owes them reparations for centuries of prejudice. 2. As far as dominant, land owning communities like the Marathas are concerned, they face no social discrimination and prejudice. Whether they are Kshtriyas or Shudras is a semantic debate. They are demonstrating for reservations because many of them are not doing well economically. Once this principle is accepted as the basis for reservations, members of all communities, in greater or lesser number, would qualify. Even Muslims, most certainly, although the standard put down for them is that the Constitutional does not allow for reservation on the basis of religion. 3. It is clearly a fudge to give reservations to Marathas by classifying them as “ backward “. That, by no stretch of the imagination, they are. If people should qualify because they are not economically well off, then, as Shri Nitin Gadkari has said, reservations should be given, neat and clean, to members of all communities, across the board, who are at the bottom of the heap. 4. The apex court has, very wisely, placed a cap of 50% on reservations, balancing efficiency and equity. Tamil Nadu has found a way out. Now Maharashtra will. Given electoral compulsions, the political class would not mind taking reservations to 100%. What happens to the interests of groups who cannot be covered by reservations, and what happens to the sense of fair play that underpins the social compact ? 4. No better way to end this rant than by quoting Gadkariji again : But where are the jobs ? How much would the Marathas gain if they get 12,000 of the 72,000 jobs on offer ? All these agitations are actually a cry from the heart of real India – the economy is not creating the growth and the jobs it should. That is what China has achieved and we have not.
This demand for reservations from Marathas, Jats, Patels etc are a disgusting trend! These communities are all dominant castes with wealth and power and definitely not backward or exploited! These should be resisted strongly and put down remorselessly. What next? Demands from Reddys and Naidus, Mudaliars and Nairs etc. No end to this self-centred, violent and immoral agitations?