The story goes back to 1999. Sharad Pawar had left the Congress to form the Nationalist Congress Party and, as a result, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance emerged as the single largest block in the assembly elections. There was, however, no consensus on who would become chief minister. After many rounds of discussions, they had a name—Sureshdada Jain, a veteran leader from Jalgaon who had defected from the Congress to the Sena. The alliance was short of majority and Jain had promised to win over 20 additional legislators.
A few leaders led by the BJP’s Prakash Javadekar went to Matoshree, Bal Thackeray’s residence, to seek his approval for Jain. Thackeray’s son Uddhav was not active in politics then, and his nephew Raj was widely seen as his successor. Javadekar told Raj, who was then the chief of the Sena’s student wing Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, that they wanted an audience with his uncle. Raj told them Thackeray was taking a nap and would not like to be disturbed. When Javadekar told him it was urgent, Raj went to Thackeray’s room, woke him up and told him that Javadekar and team had come with the name of a potential chief minister. “Who is it?” asked Thackeray. “Sureshdada Jain,” said Raj.
Thackeray gave him a stern look and said, “Only a Maharashtrian can be the chief minister of Maharashtra.” Jain was a Gujarati. That ended the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance’s dreams of getting back to power.
This story is a legend of sorts among the cadres of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Raj and Uddhav often narrate it to their leaders and cadres alike, stressing the fact that the cause of the Marathi language and the Marathi manoos came first on their list of priorities; hindutva comes after.
More than two decades later, that same cause has brought the estranged Thackeray cousins back together. The decision of the Devendra Fadnavis government to implement the three-language education policy and teach Hindi from class 1 had triggered protests across the state, including from the Congress. However, when the Thackeray cousins announced a joint march on July 5, the government hurriedly withdrew the government resolutions enforcing Hindi and appointed a new committee headed by educationist Dr Narendra Jadhav to look into the issue. The Thackeray cousins, buoyed by the development, scrapped the protest for a victory rally.
“What Balasaheb could not achieve has been achieved by Fadnavis; he brought us together,” thundered Raj. “Now that we are together, let us see who forces Hindi down the throats of our students. What was the need to do this in the first place? Students were learning Hindi from fifth standard onwards.”
Raj also alleged that the introduction of Hindi was a test case; the real intention of the rulers in Delhi, he said, was to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra.
Uddhav said that he and Raj had come together on the issue of Marathi, Mumbai and Maharashtra, and that they would continue to be together in future. Notably, this is being seen as a precursor to a political alliance between their parties.
By nature, the Thackeray cousins are like chalk and cheese. Raj is an extrovert and a fiery orator. Uddhav is reserved and excellent at organisation. Both went to the Marathi Balmohan Vidyamandir in Dadar and to Sir JJ School of Art. Uddhav majored in photography, Raj dropped out to pursue his now famous style of cartooning. Before entering politics, Uddhav ran an advertising agency named Chaurang. He started taking interest in politics when the first Sena-BJP government came to power in 1995. He slowly began sharing the stage with Raj and his father and gave speeches. He showed great acumen for organisation work and took over backroom management ahead of the 1999 assembly elections.
All was well between the cousins till 2003 when Balasaheb asked Raj to propose Uddhav’s name for working president of the party. That is when Raj realised that Uddhav would be the successor and run the Sena.
Raj tried to find out a solution within the structure of the party but in vain. Finally, in 2005, he quit the party saying, “Majhya Vitthalala badvyani gherlay (my lord Vithal has been surrounded by priests who are cronies).” Then, on the day of Gudi Padwa, the Marathi new year, he floated the MNS.
Initially, the MNS did a lot of damage to the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the municipal elections of 2007 and 2012. In the 2009 assembly elections, the party sent 14 legislators to the Vidhan Sabha. The number might sound small, but the MNS defeated Sena-BJP candidates in 45 seats, preventing them from storming to power despite the tremendous anti-incumbency against the Congress-NCP government in the aftermath of the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai.
A few years later, in 2012, the kinder side of Raj was visible when he drove Uddhav home from Lilavati hospital; he had a heart problem. Uddhav, however, was not so kind as he did not allow Raj to board the bus carrying Balasaheb’s body to Shivaji Park for cremation the same year. Raj was allowed to pay homage only at Shivaji Park.
In 2013, Raj became the first Marathi leader from the opposition to be invited to Gujarat by then chief minister Narendra Modi. He returned impressed by the Gujarat model of development and decided to support Modi as prime minister candidate.
But, by the time of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he appeared to have moved closer to the opposition, addressing rallies across the state exposing the ‘achche din’ claim by the Modi government. It did not work; the saffron alliance won 42 of 48 seats in Maharashtra. He went solo again for the assembly elections the same year, winning a lone seat. Raj seemed to be on a downward spiral.
Meanwhile, Uddhav became chief minister after breaking the decades-old alliance with the BJP and teaming with the Congress and the NCP. This would eventually lead to Eknath Shinde leading a massive rebellion, splitting the Shiv Sena and becoming chief minister with the BJP’s blessings.
The pally relationship between Shinde and Raj, and frequent visits to Raj’s residence by BJP and Sena (Shinde) ministers gave the impression that Raj would soon join the ruling coalition. In 2024, Raj again expressed support for Modi and there were efforts to bring him into the saffron alliance; he, however, was unhappy with the number of seats he was offered. He once again contested alone in last year’s assembly elections, fielding his son Amit from the Mahim constituency. The BJP wanted the Sena (Shinde) to give up this seat, but it fielded Sada Sarvankar—Shinde felt that if Sarvankar was denied the ticket, there would be a perception that he was turning his back on those who had supported him in the rebellion. Amit and Sarvankar lost to Sena (UBT) candidate Mahesh Sawant.
The Thackeray cousins are fighting for survival now. Uddhav because Shinde’s rebellion reduced his own Sena to only 20 in the assembly and some leaders are still leaving. Raj, on the other hand, was deeply hurt by Amit’s defeat and he is struggling to get his men elected even at the corporation level.
It was in an interview to film maker Mahesh Manjrekar in April that Raj first said that there was no dispute or rivalry bigger than the cause of Maharashtra. Uddhav, too, said that for Maharashtra, he was willing to let bygones be bygones. Then Fadnavis gave them the Hindi issue on a platter.
The cadres were euphoric when the cousins united on July 5, but the road ahead is no cakewalk. Uddhav is in desperate need of an alliance that will boost his party’s morale; the Maha Vikas Aghadi, feels the Sena (UBT) cadre, has not been as successful as was hoped. Joining hands with the MNS, which shares the same DNA—Balasaheb’s teachings—will definitely boost cadre morale. The question is, how willing would Uddhav be when it comes to seat sharing and other nitty-gritty ahead of the key municipal elections.
Moreover, Raj’s hindutva pitch and stand against north Indians would upset the Congress and alienate Uddhav’s newly acquired Muslim voters. And perhaps the most important question is whether Raj would accept the dominance of Uddhav.
If the cousins do decide to stick together, it could be a big problem for the BJP-led Mahayuti.
Together, the cousins could consolidate the Marathi vote base and that could hurt the BJP, more so in rural Maharashtra. On the other hand, the BJP could benefit in urban pockets where Raj’s anti-migrant stand could push non-Marathi speaking people towards the national party.
The biggest headache would be for Shinde, who will have to battle the joint Thackeray forces in Mumbai, Thane and the larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region. And that is why Shinde, in his reaction, was soft on Raj and hit Uddhav hard. If Shinde fails, the Mahayuti alliance could be done. Also, several lower-rung leaders could return to the Thackeray fold.
“Raj Thackeray’s speech today reflected genuine concern for the Marathi language,” Shinde said. “In contrast, Uddhav’s speech was filled with bitterness, jealousy and a desperate craving for power and position. Some leaders spoke of having neither a flag nor an agenda. But while Raj observed that restraint, the other shamelessly revealed his flag of selfishness and his agenda for power. The real questions need to be answered by Uddhav. Why has the Marathi population in Mumbai declined? Why is the representation of Marathi people shrinking? He abandoned Balasaheb’s ideology in 2019, and the public responded in the assembly elections. Shiv Sena won 60 seats, while Uddhav’s party contested 100 and won just 20. In 2019, for the sake of the chief minister’s chair, he betrayed the people’s mandate and Balasaheb’s legacy.”
Fadnavis, for his part, said it was the Uddhav government that had first accepted the Raghunath Mashelkar committee’s report on the introduction of Hindi, and claimed that Vijay Kadam, a senior Sena (UBT) leader, was part of that committee. His government, argued Fadnavis, was just taking the next step.
What happens next with the cousins will become clear only when Raj, who has kept his cards close to his chest, lays them out in the open. “This alliance has the potential to become a game changer if the two brothers keep their sights fixed on political wisdom and the cause of Maharashtra and the Marathi language,” said a senior MNS leader requesting anonymity. “The response to our event was huge, much more than we had anticipated. Hope something good comes out of it.”