Maharashtrians have stabbed me in the back: Bal Thackeray

Upset over the party’s debacle in the Assembly elections, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Saturday let loose his emotions. In an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana, Thackeray expressed his feeling, clearly, writing that he felt let down by the Maharashtrians in Mumbai. “I did everything for the Maharashtrians. Still they stabbed me in the back,” Thackeray wrote.

Thackeray also described how he had always been ready to sacrifice himself for sake of the Maharashtrian. “I have given vent to my feelings to relieve my anguish. I devoted 44 years of my life for you (Maharashtrians). I do not know what crime I have committed and where I have gone wrong. If the dead minds of Maharashtrians are not going to be resurrected, I should not subject myself to this agony,” he wrote. He further wrote, “I have lost faith in everything, including Maharashtrians and even God. I am pained to make this statement but I have no desire to hide the truth and indulge in self-deception”.

Thackeray also wondered as to why Maharashtrians did not seem to possess any pride in their region. “Maharashtra has been inspiring the rest of the country for 400 years. The likes of Jayalalithaa, M Karunanidhi, Narendra Modi and Naveen Patnaik have succeeded because their respective regions have supported them. It seems that Maharashtrians still have not gotten wiser and their minds are dead,” he wrote.

Come back, Balasaheb

In what many political observers believe is a show of a lack of faith in Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership, many Shiv Sainiks from Parel, Lalbaug and Sewree wrote to Bal Thackeray, asking him to lead the party again. They have also started a signature campaign which will have an appeal to Thackeray saying, “Saheb please do something to save the party.”

For the first time, the party has been unable to win a seat from the area, traditionally considered a Sena stronghold. “The workers are frustrated due to this humiliating defeat. The letter writing is a part of a campaign to vent their frustration,” a source said.

Interestingly, it is not any leader, but ordinary Sainiks who have initiated this campaign. Sadashiv Pawar, a Shiv Sainik from Parel said, “Till Wednesday, I would say that I am a Shiv Sainik. Today, I say I was a Shiv Sainik. The party has gone away from its trusted workers and has befriended people who have nothing to do with the party’s ideologies.”