A thousand rebellions

Jadhav, now 48, is a two-time MLA from Chiplun. His meteoric rise from obscurity to wealth and power is a common story in the politics of India8217;s wealthiest state. Only this time around, the first family of the Sena 8212; ageing supremo Bal and son Uddhav 8212; refused to give Jadhav a ticket. But Jadhav is defiant. He insists on contesting. Not for himself, of course. The people, he says airily. There were thousands waiting for him when he returned to Chiplun without the ticket. It was they, he says sagely, who forced him to stand defiant against the Thackerays.

Like the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance too has been roiled by serious unrest over party tickets. A thousand rebellions have broken out across the state 8212; from the Konkan to the arid northern lands of Vidarbha 8212; and as the state goes into its assembly elections on October 13, the rebels have further muddied already murky waters. Neat vote shares and past voting percentages from the past election will necessarily be wrecked by rebel candidates and innumerable split votes. Rebels aren8217;t particularly new to Maharashtra. Yet, the current uprising is universal: it affects all parties, and has never been so widespread.

It8217;s best to understand the revolt by first looking within the Sena. Rebellion doesn8217;t come naturally to Sainiks. They might have come to power through intimidation and 8212; to put it delicately 8212; donation businesses, but they follow a cult of absolute obedience to one man. You might argue that in his late 70s Bal Thackeray no longer inspires the terror and obedience he once did, that his son Uddhav is too mild-mannered and too concerned about projecting the civil face of the Sena.

These are all valid arguments. But you will find the real answers in the election affidavits of Maharashtra8217;s politicians. There are no statistical comparisons available, but no other state seems to have so many candidates with fortunes running into not just lakhs but crores. Every affidavit has thrown up mysterious rags-to-riches stories, showcasing all manner of whim and luxury.

There8217;s the Congress8217;s minister of state for home, Kripashankar Singh, who began as a vegetable vendor and now declares assets of Rs 66 lakh including 12 watches and four guns. Narayan Rane, the Sena8217;s once and prospective chief minister who started as a clerk and now clocks Rs 7.5 crore, without declaring his heavily guarded mansion rubbing shoulders with Bollywood on super-costly Pali Hill, Mumbai. Chhagan Bhujbal, the NCP8217;s controversial former home minister who began as a vegetable vendor now boasts assets of Rs 1.42 crore. Why there8217;s even Baldev Khosa, former driver of Union Sports Minister Sunil Dutt: Khosa clocks in at a healthy Rs 2.67 crore.

Power has clearly been profitable 8212; and consequently intoxicating 8212; all through the aspirational 1990s, a time when wealth and good living took centrestage. Since the turn of the century, the call to power and wealth has grown exponentially, to a point where the Sainik who8217;s tasted the good life is willing to dare expulsion or violence in the struggle to better it. Even the once humble shaka pramukh has prospered in the last generation, like former hand-cart puller Dagdu Sakpal, first-time Sena candidate from Parel, the Maharashtrian heart of Mumbai, who now has declared assets of Rs 98.6 lakh. No longer in this demonstrative age is the new Sainik willing to wait outside Matoshree all day 8212; and return shame-faced when a secretary, or a servant, tells them to be on their way.

The real misalignment of aspirations began in 1999 when Pawar walked out of the Congress. The faltering Congress8217;s youthful element, which would otherwise have filled the ranks of the Sena or Sharad Joshi8217;s farmer8217;s association, went to the NCP. It was as if a new company had been formed: the NCP became a vessel to receive the aspirations of those who found their upward path blocked in the Sena.

Now, with the NCP and Congress in an alliance for the first time 8212; last time around they came together after the elections, a vital difference 8212; hundreds of aspirants at all levels in both parties find themselves in a situation where they can do little but rebel.

The younger NCP cadre has little memory of Rajiv Gandhi, none of Indira and thus little affinity for the Congress8217;s supreme-family ideology. Like the Sainiks, they are young and unemployed. Unlike the Sainiks, they have backup at home: a father in the sugar factory, an uncle in a zilla parishad. The NCP cadre is rural with a safety net. The Sainik 8212; largely Maratha and OBC 8212; is urban, on the streets, perhaps with a father thrown out of work. For the BJP 8212; still an overwhelmingly upper-caste party supported by traders, clerks, teachers 8212; there is an ill-disguised contempt in the Sena.

That was evident in the shock defeats of the BJP8217;s former union ministers and veterans Ram Naik and Jayawantiben Mehta in May8217;s parliamentary elections. It was a stark example of aspirations unfulfilled. When Mehta and Naik complained to Thackeray of the Sainik8217;s less-than-welcoming attitude, he said they should not have expected any better. Did you, he is said to have asked bluntly, keep aside any petrol pumps for them?