Will Ayodhya tour help Shinde Sena gain Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva legacy?

Although Shinde’s two-day tour to Ayodhya beginning Saturday evening is being promoted as a Shiv Sena event, the BJP – sources said – is playing a key role to make it a grand one.

Senior BJP minister Girish Mahajan has been deployed to accompany the Maharashtra CM on the tour. Moreover, BJP units in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have been working round-the-clock to ensure Shinde’s Ayodhya tour is successful. The highlight of the tour is a scheduled meeting with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Sunday.

On Friday, Shinde flagged off a special train carrying Sena workers to Ayodhya. On Sunday, Shinde will conduct a ‘maha aarti’ at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Later in the evening, he will perform an ‘aarti’ at the banks of the Sarayu river in the temple town.

Shinde’s Ayodhya tour was announced shortly after a Maha Vikas Aghadi rally was held in Sambhaji Nagar (formerly Aurangabad) wherein Uddhav Thackeray took the centre stage. At the rally, Uddhav Thackeray, who shared the dais with alliance partners NCP and Congress, directed his tirade against the BJP and PM Narendra Modi. He questioned BJP’s ‘double standards’ on Veer Savarkar. Uddhav Thackeray also asked if Modi and the BJP were so strong, why are Hindus being forced to take to the streets under the leadership of the Sakal Hindu Samaj. Notably, Uddhav Thackeray reiterated his commitment to Hindutva at the rally.

Earlier, at the Malegaon rally of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Uddhav Thackeray had said, “We will not compromise our stand on Savarkar.” He also sent out a ‘warning’ to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, asking the latter to desist from insulting Savarkar.

Uddhav Thackeray’s renewed assertion showed his greater determination to fight back to hold onto his Hindutva space.

Political experts, therefore, observed that Shinde has undertaken the Ayodhya tour to counter Uddhav Thackeray.

A senior minister in the Shinde camp said, “When 3,000 party workers will visit Ayodhya under Shinde’s leadership – it will automatically generate a lot of enthusiasm. The mobilisation of foot soldiers is important and the telecast of this event at every party shakha (branch office) will engage tens and thousands of other workers.”

CM Shinde said, “The Ram temple in Ayodhya was the dream of our mentor and ideologue Bal Thackeray.” He added that their visit to Ayodhya will carry forward the dream of Balasaheb Thackeray.

Political pundits opined that the BJP and the Shiv Sena want to keep the Hindutva plank alive and political managers in both these parties believe that Hindutva is their weapon to keep the Thackeray Sena on the tenterhooks.

In 2019, when Uddhav Thackeray took the decision to sever ties with the BJP following differences over power sharing, he aligned with the Congress-NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. The MVA government survived for 2.5 years.

A BJP insider said, “The unnatural alliance of Shiv Sena with rivals Congress-NCP had generated a lot of unrest amongst its elected MLAs and MPs. They feared that compromising on Hindutva would become detrimental electorally.”

When Bal Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966, its politics revolved around the ‘son of soil’ plank. But it was the Hindutva agenda that helped the party gain a foothold across Maharashtra.

Riding the Hindutva agenda, Shinde now wants to reaffirm his leadership in Maharashtra as the real torch-bearer of Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena.

When the Shiv Sena split in June 2022, 40 out of 56 party MLAs and 12 out of 18 MPs switched sides to the Shinde camp. But committed sainiks across Marathwada and Konkan regions have not ditched Uddhav Thackeray. The BJP, the pundits said, has realised that its ‘Operation Lotus’ will not be complete without winning over the Sainiks at the grassroots.

Therefore, BJP strategists are expected to pull out more cards in their effort to gain the upper hand on the Hindutva issue ahead of next year’s Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

A BJP functionary said, “The Ram temple in Ayodhya is our shraddha sthan (place of faith)… So, anybody who joins the BJP pays a visit to Ayodhya. It also means embracing the BJP’s agenda in totality.”

In the context of Maharashtra, Shinde’s tour will certainly have political ramifications, felt observers.

What is interesting to note is that Ayodhya has become ‘the pilgrimage centre’ for politicians subscribing to the Hindutva ideology.

After becoming the Maharashtra chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray visited Ayodhya in March 2020. In November 2019, he took charge as the CM of the three-party coalition. Facing attacks from friend-turned-foe BJP, Uddhav Thackeray tried to silence his critics by offering prayers at the Ram temple.