Claws in, swag’s on

Uddhav Thackeray is redefining Shiv Sena’s hindutva agenda

16-Uddhav Uddhav Thackeray | Amey Mansabdar

On March 25, Balu Patil, a farmer from Jawala Bazar in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district, sent a truck full of oranges—nine tonnes—to Bengaluru. But as the truck entered Parbhani district, it was stopped by the police, citing the national lockdown. When the driver informed Patil, he tried all means to get the truck moving, but to no avail. Finally, Patil sent a text to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Within ten minutes, Patil received a call from Krishnakant Upadhyay, superintendent of police, Parbhani district. He told Patil that the truck would be released immediately. Half an hour later, the truck driver called Patil, telling him that the police had granted permission to travel to Bengaluru.

“I had sent a message to the chief minister, urging him to help a farmer in distress. When the police superintendent assured me of all help, I was stunned. I thought he had called to scold me for bothering the chief minister,” Patil told THE WEEK. “That day I realised that the chief minister was really working for farmers’ welfare, and that it was not just lip service.” When Patil thanked Uddhav via a text, he replied with a smiley. This incident shows that Maharashtra’s new chief minister, who had no administrative or legislative experience, has got his priorities right.

Maharashtra has seen the highest number of Covid-19 cases in India (1,018, as on April 7). Since day one of the lockdown in the state, Uddhav has been regularly conducting Facebook Live sessions to reach out to people instead of the customary media briefing. “Don’t step out. Listen to your respective home minister (wife) when at home. I spent the entire day under the guidance of Mrs Chief Minister (Rashmi Thackeray),” he said during a session a day after the Janata Curfew (March 22). Uddhav did away with news conferences because he wanted to ensure that the social distancing protocol was strictly followed. He had addressed a crowded news conference in mid-March at the gates of the Sahyadri guest house and sensed how it could defeat the purpose of social distancing. He, therefore, started doing Facebook sessions and advised Health Minister Rajesh Tope to do the same.

When he took oath as chief minister, Uddhav was seen as a chief minister who would be remote-controlled by a shrewd politician like NCP chief Sharad Pawar. But in the last five months, he has shown that he has a mind of his own.
A chief minister has to be firm, but here we see that the government has no control over administration. —Madhav Bhandari, chief spokesperson, BJP

Uddhav was also prompt in addressing the issues faced by migrant workers from West Bengal who were stranded at the construction site of a major real estate group on the outskirts of Mumbai. The real estate firm had not paid them wages for two months. The workers, therefore, had no money to buy food, and could not return home as train services were stopped. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reportedly spoke to Uddhav, who assured her that they would not face any more trouble. He asked Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik to supply the workers with essentials that would last the lockdown period. Sarnaik not only arranged food, water and medicines for them but also summoned the representative of the real estate group and made him promise the workers that their wages would be paid within seven days.

Also, it was Uddhav who suggested, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s videoconference with chief ministers, that involving religious leaders from all communities was necessary to avoid a situation like the Tablighi Jamaat gathering. Heeding Uddhav’s suggestion, Modi told all chief ministers to communicate with prominent religious leaders in their states.

When he took oath as chief minister, Uddhav was seen as a chief minister who would be remote-controlled by a shrewd politician like NCP chief Sharad Pawar. But in the last five months, he has shown that he has a mind of his own. When he met Modi in Delhi, Uddhav declared his support for the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, dashing the hopes of Congress and NCP leaders who wanted to pass a resolution against CAA and the National Register of Citizens in the state legislature. Also, after completing 100 days in power, Uddhav went to Ayodhya to seek blessings of Lord Ram. Then again, when Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik of the NCP announced that Maharashtra would implement 5 per cent reservation for Muslims in education, Uddhav categorically said that no such proposal had come to him. “Let the proposal come, we will discuss it,” he said.

These instances show that Uddhav has not moved away from his party’s core agenda of hindutva. However, he sure has done away with the aggression associated with it. When the BJP became a proponent of aggressive hindutva, Uddhav occupied the right-of-centre space with a firm eye on his core vote bank. Much like his personality, Uddhav wants the Sena’s hindutva agenda to be assertive.

Madhav Bhandari | Amey Mansabdar Madhav Bhandari | Amey Mansabdar

Congress legislator Anant Gadgil said that Uddhav was doing a commendable job. “He is talking the language of the people,” he said. “He is appealing to them, persuading them and urging them to follow rules and regulations. I feel he is handling it very well now. However, the real test for him will be when the economic impact of Covid-19 will be felt.”

Gadgil said that Uddhav’s support for CAA and visit to the Ram Janmabhoomi were done to protect his vote bank. “But he is also following coalition dharma,” he said. “That is why he said that he does not support NRC, to which the Congress is firmly opposed. So far, he is balancing it very well.”

Senior political analyst Prakash Akolkar said that through his interactions before the state lockdown, Uddhav first prepared the people for the unavoidable and tough measures that would have to be taken. “He went about introducing various measures in a phased manner,” he said. “Even suburban trains in Mumbai were stopped as a last resort. There was no panic. On the other hand, Modi gave just four hours to the nation to mentally prepare itself for the lockdown.”

Uddhav, said Akolkar, has battled many an adversity on his own. “Unlike his father, he never had the privilege of having a close group of second-rung leaders who could appeal to a wide variety of castes and communities,” he said. “When he was taking over, leaders like Manohar Joshi and Pramod Navalkar had almost retired. On the other hand, those who had fire in them, like Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray, openly rebelled and left the Sena. So, Uddhav was kind of left alone to battle it out.”

The BJP, however, is not entirely satisfied with Uddhav’s leadership. But it is not vocal about it because it realises that the crisis at hand is a national one and also because it hopes to ally with the Sena in future. A BJP legislator said that the government’s handling of the crisis was not systematically planned or well-coordinated. “Very few ministers are seen to be working on the ground,” he said. “Similarly, there is no innovative thought in utilisation of finances in this time of crisis. The Home Guards have not been pressed into action in rural areas the way they should have been. Messages like importance of washing hands with soap have not reached the villages or the poor. The government should have used the lockdown period to start employment guarantee scheme after strictly observing social distancing norms.”

The positive aspect of Uddhav’s leadership, said BJP chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari, is that he is well-intentioned. “But is that enough for a chief minister? A chief minister has to be firm, but here we see that the government has no control over administration,” he said. The lockdown, he said, was not properly implemented as people were still crowding the streets and markets. “The public distribution system is a failure,” said Bhandari. “Even the Shiv Sena cadre is not active on ground. Why are private clinics still closed in the state? What support is the state offering to doctors so that they open these clinics? Even the guardian ministers of respective districts are taking it lightly and they are not camping in the districts assigned to them.”