Troubled transition

Or to play one Thackeray scion against the other. But that8217;s the favourite pastime of many Sena leaders. Although Raj feels newspapers are doing their damnest to drive the two cousins apart, it8217;s senior leaders in the Sena who appear to have set the media on this course. One such leader, who figures in the list of Thackeray8217;s 12 apostles8217; see box, told this writer: 8220;Raj is very difficult to get along with. Sometimes he8217;s utterly rude. So, we decided to promote Uddhav as the go-between to his father.8221;

It all started during the 1995 Maharashtra Assembly elections, when, taking advantage of Raj8217;s long-standing ambition to produce feature films and his inclination towards music, these leaders channelised his energies towards making documentaries and campaign music cassettes on the Sena and its chief. They also packed him out of Mumbai by putting him on the campaign trail, leaving Uddhav to step into the vacuum.

If Raj was aware of these designs, he showed no signs of getting cold feet. He loved the adulation that goes with election campaigns. After all, he8217;s a Thackeray clone who models himself on his uncle. The laws of genetics may have helped his looks which make him a younger version of Bal Thackeray 8212; he goes to great lengths to imitate his uncle8217;s mannerisms. Even to the extent of making occasional cartoons for the party mouthpiece, Saamna. But do Sena leaders want more of the same?

Uddhav8217;s Assets are Raj8217;s Liabilities

Uddhav, therefore, comes to Sena leaders as a refreshing change. His shy nature, despite three electoral campaigns, and his humility, despite his proximity to Bal Thackeray, makes him endearing, as is his accessibility. Traits that party leaders compare with Raj8217;s growing sense of self-importance.

The importance of the younger Thackerays is obvious, despite the reluctance of Thackeray to anoint an heir on the plea that the 8220;future should take care of itself.8221;

For the present, however, the official version is that his son is in the field 8220;temporarily8221; to help out the ageing tiger, while the nephew 8220;may be in or may be out, depending on his inclinations.8221; Delightful vagueness on the part of Thackeray, not known for mincing his words. But clearly, little else can be said, especially since the party has to be saved from breaking up before it learns to enjoy the fruits of power.

There are the doomsayers who insist the party will crumble after Thackeray because of the reluctance of his apostles8217; to accept the two heirs8217; as leaders. The contradiction is surprising in a party like the Shiv Sena which is unashamedly autocratic. On the other hand, the Congress, which swears by inner-party democracy, had even octogenarians kneeling before Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi. Thackeray may not have been wide of the mark when he declared: 8220;How can you blame Indira Gandhi for enforcing dynastic succession? She did not ask for Rajiv to be made Prime Minister before she died. What can be done if sycophants within the party propped him up?8221;

Monolithic, But Benevolently So

Again, despite its clearly monolithic structure, the Sena is one rare party with an unfettered multi-level leadership, even if the leaders hold office at the pleasure of their party chief see box. Many disgruntled Congressmen in Maharashtra, in fact, feel tempted to join the Sena, given that Thackeray has been naming many of these defectors, still in their 30s, as second-rank leaders: a title they might be able to lay claim to in the Congress only when they are doddering. Which explains why, despite all power being concentrated in the hands of Thackeray, we hardly hear rumblings of discontent. 8220;Many parties only have a top without a base,8221; says Uddhav. 8220;We have a major network percolating down to the grassroots.8221;

Though Uddhav places both himself and Raj among the 8220;second rank8221; of the Sena leadership, significantly Raj was almost muscled out of the run-up to the February 1997 civic elections in Mumbai. 8220;He played a bigger role in corporations outside the metropolis,8221; explains Uddhav diplomatically. 8220;In cricket, there8217;s the striking end and the bowler8217;s end. While one bats, the other watches. But each gets his turn.8221;

Raj, however, now has his employment agency, the Shiv Udyog Sena SUS, to keep him occupied. This private employment bureau was set up to provide self-employment to 27 lakh unemployed young people in Maharashtra 8212; a populist promise in the Sena manifesto, but the party hasn8217;t been able to do much about it. Last week, even as crowds thronged Sena Bhavan, the party8217;s headquarters, for the 10-rupee SUS entry forms, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi came out with a parallel bureau to provide self-employment.

Political pundits see this as yet another ploy of the senior Sena leadership to cut Raj down to size. For, if Raj8217;s efforts are successful, he could be the unchallenged Sena leader of the future, drawing his support from the party8217;s ranks and rendering the senior leadership redundant.

The Lesson Learnt From Sharad Pawar

The contemporaries of Sharad Pawar in the Sena, meanwhile, haven8217;t forgotten that the Maratha strongman did well in later life precisely because of the reputation he acquired as Congress youth leader. That support helped him establish the unenviable record of never losing an election. Today, there8217;s no youth leader in the Congress to match the yuppie Raj Thackeray or the gravity of purpose, albeit 8220;not in self-interest but that of the party8221;, shown by Uddhav. But though both appear uninterested in electoral politics, seemingly content to be powers behind the throne, there are no guarantees for the future.

Meanwhile, even as Thackeray treats his kin with the indulgence of a patriarch, there are indications that the gameplan of the senior Sena leaders might yet pay off. For, it is Uddhav the senior Thackeray seems to be leaning on, his son being privy to policy and other important discussions that could have a significant bearing on the Sena8217;s future.

Stung as he is by an investigation into his alleged involvement in the Ramesh Kini murder case, Raj, on the other hand, risks coming a cropper in the event of an actual leadership contest for the supremo8217;s job. Yet, ironically, it is Uddhav who talks of early 8220;retirement8221;, and of going back to photography, once his purpose in politics 8212; to ensure the Sena8217;s promises to the people get implemented 8212; is served. 8220;All that I can tell you now is that I will certainly not stay around as long as Sudhakarrao Naik!8221; he quips. Naik, senior Congress leader and a former Chief Minister, incidentally, announced his retirement from active politics last week.

As for Raj, the Sena top brass will have to bear in mind that he might just dig in his heels and end up making a caricature of them. For better, or for worse.

The Twelve Apostles

If the Election Commission tries to make the Shiv Sena fall in line by completing intra-party elections before May 31, it might find itself up against a peculiar phenomenon. Bal Thackeray, it seems, is this sub-continent8217;s most adored autocrat.

But though he may be the party8217;s centre of gravity, Thackeray has named 12 of his oldest contemporaries in the Sena as netas leaders 8212; Uddhav and Raj were recently added to their ranks. Others are merely Sainiks. The 12 apostles8217; include Manohar Joshi now Maharashtra8217;s Chief Minister; Sudhir Joshi, Pramod Navalkar both ministers; Subhash Desai party general secretary; Datta Nalawade Maharashtra Assembly Speaker; Dattaji Salvi, Sharad Acharya, and Madhukar Sarpotdar.

Chhagan Bhujbal once figured among the chosen 12, but he was the first to challenge Thackeray8217;s dictatorial ways and joined the Congress five years ago. The Sena chief has still not forgiven him for this act of defiance.

Today, the party is in search of a second-rank8217; leadership to replace these first-generation netas who are either in the government or on its fringes. Sarpotdar, for instance, is the Chairman of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority; Salvi heads the government cell for freedom fighters. The search, according to Uddhav Thackeray, is nearly complete. The party has drawn up a list of these leaders, who8217;ll be named on June 19, the Sena8217;s foundation day.

With the delimitation of a number of wards during the last municipal elections, the Sena8217;s unique network of a shakha pramukh for each ward has gone for a toss. So, there8217;ll be many more aspirants in the party who will find their dream of becoming a pramukh coming true in the days to come. Then there are vibhag pramukhs to match Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies. Thackeray, by and large, doesn8217;t interfere with their work, provided their activities aren8217;t antagonistic to his own interests.

If this weren8217;t enough to keep his flock happy, being in power has given the Sena chief additional perks to distribute among the faithful. The EC, therefore, is unlikely to find the likes of A. R. Antulay or Rajesh Pilot in the Sena ranks to make its task of taming the Tiger easier.

What it is likely to find, though, is a leader vested with absolute power by his party8217;s constitution, enabling him to rise above caste considerations in electoral politics, a difficult proposition in post-Mandal India, and nominate candidates as diverse as a high-flying industrialist Par-vez Damania, a middle-class banker Suresh Prabhu, or just a former bodyguard Mohan Rawle. Of the three, two won in the last Lok Sabha elections to prove Thackeray right.

General in Waiting

8220;I am not here for being something or someone. I am here merely to do what I must do; what I have to do,8221; declares Uddhav Thackeray, son of the Shiv Sena supremo. 8220;I don8217;t even want to think about succession to Balasaheb.8221;

Uddhav is the odd one out in the Thackeray family. Clearly unambitious, he8217;s interested neither in cartooning, like his father and cousin, nor in films and music, like his elder brothers. Photography was his passion before he stepped into a breach in the Sena during the 1995 Assembly elections.

The Sena didn8217;t quite expect to win the elections, so Uddhav vowed he would return to his camera after the vote. But with an unforeseen victory, he has had to stay on to ensure that the party8217;s policies are implemented by those in government.And unlike his cousin Raj, Uddhav is clearly not in awe of Mumbai8217;s social circuit 8212; as he himself puts it, he avoids 8220;just socialising or presiding over book releases.8221; Party politics is his passion, and though he8217;s incredibly shy on stage, he loves attending political meetings because they give him 8220;a chance to connect with the people.8221;

Uddhav8217;s top priority is to make the Sena shed its anti-social image. 8220;People wrongly believed that we were a gundon ki sena,8221; he says. 8220;They did not realise that the Sainiks did what they had to in order to be able to secure justice to the people. There was no other way, considering we were in the opposition for so many years.8221;But so many years in the opposition haven8217;t made him hanker after the perks of power, or so he steadfastly maintains. 8220;We Raj and he are content to be where we are,8221; he insists. But though he may hide his light under a bushel, his more ambitious cousin makes no bones about being in politics. 8220;I love politics,8221; he once said, acknowledging that the thrill of electoral battles had got into his blood.

Raj is busy cultivating the image of being the most sought after public figure around town. No event is too insignificant for him to put in an appearance 8211; and emerge as the centre of attention. He has also acquired a yuppie veneer 8212; he sports the latest in cars, cellphones, and Colts and Mausers 8220;all duly licenced8221;. And his hauteur makes him a carbon copy of his more illustrious uncle. It may not be enough, though, to ensure he dons Balasaheb8217;s mantle.