Opinion The Mumbai split
Accounting for the RSS and BJPs attack on the Shiv Sena
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The Shiv Sena is not merely the BJPs oldest ally,it is considered the BJPs most dependable partner. Both parties share a common Hindutva ideology. On the Ram Janamabhoomi issue,unlike the other NDA allies,Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray was,if anything,more strident than the BJP. If a public rift has now developed in the longstanding partnership it is because the BJP s pan-Indian vision of Hindu nationalism has come into conflict with the Senas parochial perspective of a Mumbai where outsiders are not welcome. And if the differences persist,the long-time partnership could be headed for a messy divorce.
In the past,the BJP may not have actively endorsed the Senas Maharashtra for Maharashtrians campaign,but it maintained a discreet silence over the Senas shrill antics. Also Bal Thackerays heir,Uddhav,had adopted a more responsible tone. Uddhav had harped largely on the issue of development in the October assembly polls,while his more fiery cousin Raj Thackeray played the Marathi manoos card. But after the recent results,the Shiv Sena feared it was in danger of being marginalised by the MNS. The Sena has now changed its tack and is keen to outdo the MNS in demagoguery and fuelling parochial passions. It has picked on the issue of the Marathi language being essential for employment in the city to make the point.
Many in the BJP may have felt that the Senas blatant chauvinism was tarnishing the image of a party which prides itself on its nationalist character. But until now,for pragmatic reasons,no BJP leader came out openly to reproach the Sena. The demoralising results of the assembly elections could have provided the impetus for the BJP to re-think its options. The BJP-Sena alliance failed to dislodge an unpopular Congress-NCP combine,which has been in power for over a decade. The BJP had always been considered the junior partner in the alliance,but in the recent assembly elections the BJP won one more assembly seat than the Sena and could rightfully take the role of the leader of the opposition a fact which rankled with the Sena,particularly as a recent by-election has put the number of MLAs from both parties on par.
For the BJP,the resounding electoral defeat in Mumbai was particularly disturbing. Backed by non-Maharashtrian migrants,the UPA won more seats than the NDA in the countrys commercial capital,thanks to the MNS splitting the Marathi vote. Associating with the Sena damaged the BJPs prospects not just with many of its voters from north India,a large share of the Gujarati voters,who have traditionally supported the party in the city,were alienated. The same phenomenon was witnessed earlier during the parliamentary election. The BJP saw its hold over the middle class,urban electorate,once its core constituency,slipping not just in Mumbai,but all over India.
The fact that the open condemnation of the Senas stance came not from the BJP but from the RSS is indicative of the changing dynamic in the Sangh Parivar. It was RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who in Guwahati on Saturday hit out at the Senas recent campaign that Mumbai was only for Marathi people and others were there at their sufferance. Mumbai is for all Indians. The whole of India is for all Indians and all Indians can earn their livelihood anywhere in India, the RSS sarsanghchalak declared. Bhagwat may have expressed the sentiment that we are all sons of India many times before,but the timing and context of his remark made clear that he was taking the Sena head on. Particularly as RSS leader Ram Madhav went a step further,declaring that RSS volunteers in Maharashtra would be asked to prevent the spread of anti-north India and anti-Hindi feeling and protect north Indians. That was enough for the Sena leader and former chief minister of Maharashtra,Manohar Joshi,to enter into a slanging match with the RSS. The time has come to remind the RSS that Mumbai belongs to the Marathi people only, he declared.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari,who last month was embroiled in a controversy himself for raising the issue of outsiders in Delhi,quickly fell in line and reiterated the RSS chiefs thinking. Significantly,Bhagwat and Gadkari are both Maharashtrians. In fact,in the new dispensation,the disproportionate representation of the state in key positions of power in the RSS and BJP is pronounced. Taking the cue from Bhagwat,Murli Manohar Joshi,a north Indian leader,hit out at the Senas vote-bank politics stating that no sensible party or leadership would support it. The main Maharashtrian BJP leader,Gopinath Munde,conscious that the long-term alliance in the state seemed to be falling apart,simply sounded confused and unsure. Mundes brother-in-law,the late Pramod Mahajan,was responsible for bringing about the alliance back in the 80s. After Mahajans death,the Thackeray family had made it clear that there is no one else in the BJP whom they can relate to as equals.
The Bihar assembly elections due later this year are another reason for the BJP positioning itself so strongly. At this juncture,wooing the north Indian voter is more important than saving the uneasy alliance with the Sena. Particularly as politics in Maharashtra is in a state of flux. The alliance of the Congress and NCP is also bound together in an unhappy marriage. Annoyed that NCP leader Sharad Pawar has been made the target of attack for spiralling food prices,the NCP has taken pot shots at the Congress. P.A. Sangma even sniped that the prime minister ought to be an elected representative and not from the Rajya Sabha. Perhaps the BJP may also have calculated that the Shiv Sena should be made aware that it is no longer indispensable to the BJP.
coomi.kapoor@expressindia.com
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