On Bal Thakeray's posthumous birth anniversary, Shiv Sainiks rue loss of Sena's firebrand image

On the third posthumous birth anniversary of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, Sainiks feel that despite the party being a constituent in the BJP-led state government, it has lost significant political space to its ally, a far cry from the days when the late party supremo would set the agenda for the saffron alliance.

They admit that a lot of water has flown down the bridge in the past year where the Sena saw its best over performance in the Lok Sabha with 18 seats, but was subsequently relegated to a distant second in the assembly by the BJP, which snapped their two and half decade long alliance just before the elections.

Thackeray's birth anniversary on Friday will be his first after the assembly polls. The political cartoonist turned politician who passed away in November 2012 had a talismanic appeal over the party faithful. However, leaders and cadre alike rued that despite being in power, the Sena did not seem to be in authority, with the BJP driving the agenda, unlike the days when the Sena chief did not hesitate to give senior BJP leaders a piece of his mind in public.

They admit that the Sena, which allied with the BJP post-polls, purportedly due to fears of a vertical split, will now have to offer an increasing aspirational electorate an agenda beyond identity politics. The votes polled by the BJP in Sena strongholds like Dadar and Goregaon (where Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai faced a shock defeat), show that the former has overcome its status as a political minnow and wooed upper-middle class Maharashtrians apart from non-Maharashtrians.

"Balasaheb's name and aura were our strength. If he was around, the BJP would not have dared ditch us," rued a former Shiv Sena MLA, adding that the party leadership should not have struck a power-sharing pact with their erstwhile junior ally on the latter's (BJP's) terms.

"We seem to have lost our machismo as a party. Is this the beginning of our decline?" he wondered. "The Shiv Sena has a rough and tough image, this cant be frittered away. We cannot afford to be gentile like the BJP," he noted.

"Post-Balasaheb, the Shiv Sena seems to be on the crossroads as far as the organisation and thought process is concerned," said former Sena Rajya Sabha MP and senior journalist Bharatkumar Raut. "It is part of the government but not in the drivers seat... it has to decide if it wants to sit peacefully and cover the distance or jump out and take its own course," said Raut, adding that the Sena had "flourished in an atmosphere of struggle." He noted that in power, the Sena could not highlight the peoples issues or agitate on the streets.

"The Shiv Sena could stem the Modi wave in Maharashtra. The BJP could not get a decisive victory," claimed a Sainik. "For a decade, there was a debate on who was the true inheritor of Balasaheb's mantle— MNS chief Raj Thackeray or Uddhav... However, the results have proved Uddhav as the better leader than his estranged cousin (whose assembly tally dropped from 13 to just one)," said the Shiv Sena activist. "For us, the political adversary has changed over time from the Communists to Congress and now, the BJP," he noted. He stressed that Uddhav needed to develop a strong second-rung leadership with a mass base and control rural power centres.

Prakash Akolkar, political editor, Sakal group and the author of the Shiv Sena's first Marathi biography 'Jai Maharashtra,' noted that while Uddhav and the Sena had won the battle by increasing their strength in the assembly from 45 to 63, they took a beating by joining the government on the BJP's terms. Akolkar said the Sena would have been a better opposition party, which suited its character, and added that Uddhav faced a huge challenge for the battle to the cash-rich BMC in 2017, where it is unclear if the two parties will ally.