5 min readJun 5, 2026 04:59 PM IST
First published on: Jun 5, 2026 at 04:59 PM IST
Et tu, Brute? This iconic line from the play Julius Caesar, written in 1599 by William Shakespeare, is a reminder for anyone in politics that the ultimate betrayal does not come from one’s enemies, but from one’s closest allies. This is the everyday political reality in India, in this time of breaking news content. It is the age of “ShahNeeti”.
A mere 24-hour window may see twists and turns, political parties losing and engineered splits. In 2022, we saw how the Shiv Sena split. Of course, this wasn’t a first in India’s history — even Congress had split in 1969. That, however, was an outcome of organisational revolt. In the case of the Shiv Sena, it was an engineered revolt which then became a model to use against other regional parties, too. We are seeing it play out now in West Bengal with the All India Trinamool Congress.
In Shakespeare’s play, the deepest wound to Caesar was not inflicted by steel blades, but by a single face among the crowd of assassins: Marcus Brutus, his protégé and trusted friend. With that final, heartbreaking realisation, the Roman dictator stopped fighting and succumbed to the daggers. The scene remains a haunting reminder that in the theatre of power, the sharpest betrayal is always the one you never saw coming.
As a member of the united Shiv Sena, I watched every day as party members chose sides during the unfolding saga. Some were pushed, others lured, some had pending cases, some just wanted to align with the powers-that-be. The people I had come to lean on within the party, who I thought would stay on our side, would, within the next hour, move to the other side. After the split, there was a meeting of party office bearers at Shiv Sena Bhavan when we were briefed about the next steps of the party; someone who was a minister in the MVA cabinet and who was most engaged during the meeting was on a flight to Guwahati within a few hours. We could only watch the visuals and be surprised at the audacity. With every new exit, though, the shock turned to numbness.
Having seen this in my party, I can relate to AITC’s current problem as many of those who were once fiercely loyal have started to express anguish with the party’s functioning. It always begins the same way. Of course, one cannot dismiss all grievances, some of which could be genuine. But when it becomes a template before every party split, then it shows that “ShahNeeti” is at work. The party led by Mamata Banerjee has the stomach to fight on, and she will certainly rebuild and resurrect. I recall my party president, Uddhav Thackeray, once saying that old leaves need to fall in order for new ones to grow. This is how we live to fight another day.
The current way of doing politics doesn’t even shock people anymore. It has become a spectator sport, with real-time betting regarding the movement of individuals, amid source-based media speculation. Politicians who have long been part of the political system see immediate rewards being handed out — either through corruption cases getting closed or Assembly or Parliament tickets being handed out, or a ministerial berth or standing committee chairmanship being offered as a quid pro quo, then switching becomes lucrative. Many justify this as political survival. In real terms, however, it is about opportunities because having an ideology now means hanging on to perks, rather than fighting a battle of ideas.
“ShahNeeti” also has a curated “party split option” which can be chamber-specific, like how the AAP was split up only for the Rajya Sabha. The formula involves getting two-thirds of either the political party itself or its representatives in the Assembly or Parliament. It is a game of numbers that can even end with the party name and symbol being handed over to the rebels.
While the political dynamics of the AITC and Shiv Sena are vastly different, what remains the same is how an exodus is manoeuvred and split is engineered using the Brutuses within.
The writer, a former Rajya Sabha MP, is with Shiv Sena (UBT)
ShahNeeti, Political Defections, Shiv Sena Split, All India Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray, Anti-Defection Law India, Indian Political Strategy 
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