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Journalism of Courage
As the leaders of opposition bloc INDIA reached Mumbai on Thursday for their third meeting with Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray hosting a dinner for them, Sena workers across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region expressed mixed feeling about the whole event. While some were uncomfortable with the whole idea of hosting political parties and leaders with whom they had deep ideological differences, there were some who saw it as projection of Uddhav Thackeray as a national leader and something that he needed after the party’s vertical split.
As The Indian Express visited various Sena Shakhas in Mumbai, Shiv Sainiks were seen discussing the INDIA’s Mumbai leg of the meeting and were updating each other about the happenings at the event venue Grand Hyatt, the arrangements and the arrival of leaders.
Even as some workers in private said that they did not prefer Uddhav Thackeray sitting with some of the leaders in the opposition bloc with whom the party had ideological differences, some were justifying the move citing it as the need of the hour.
“Our party allying with people who were always on the other side is not really a preferred scene for us to watch but it is also a need of the hour. It is also a moment of satisfaction that Uddhav ji is emerging as a leader at the national level, too, despite facing betrayal from some many of our own people,” a Sena UBT worker said.
Another Sena worker, however, termed it as a compromise, which has to be made in politics. “I cannot say that I am liking what is happening right now and we have to see our Saheb sitting along with those who have completely opposite ideology. However, sometimes compromise is needed in politics, especially when the tables turn against you and you have to face betrayal by all. We understand Saheb’s situation now and hence we have to accept it. In 2019 also, Saheb took such a decision (joining hands with NCP and Congress to form government). We accepted it then but it also led to defections in the party,” a Sainik worker said.
“We hope that this move will work out in our favour and won’t lead to further damage to the party,”he added.
Some Senior Sena UBT leaders and office-bearers were, however, excited about the meeting and Uddhav hosting big leaders in Mumbai.
“We are happy that Saheb has pulled up things and is hosting the meeting of all the opposition party leaders… Even at such a time when Saheb is facing trouble and has lost everything, he is fighting on… He is proving that he has the capacity to also become a national leader. The sainiks’ moral has been boosted with the recent developments,” said Pandurang Sakpal, Sena UBT leader from South Mumbai.
Shiv Sena (undivided), which was led by Uddhav, faced a major rebellion in June last year when his senior party leader and MLA Eknath Shinde joined the BJP, along with 39 other Sena MLAs and 13 MPs, leading to the collapse of Uddhav-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state.
Shinde not only managed to engineer the vertical split in the party but also got a recognition as a real Shiv Sena and got the party poll symbol of bow and arrow from the Election Commision, that turned out to be another major blow for Uddhav.
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