After what seemed to be a prolonged period of suspense, following a sweeping BJP victory in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis is set to take oath as chief minister in Mumbai’s Azad Maidan. It is a moment of personal vindication for Fadnavis, whose ascent in the party has been meteoric, but has also sparked inner-party friction. From becoming Nagpur’s youngest mayor at 27 in 1997 to a first-time legislator in the Maharashtra assembly in 1999, to chief minister of the state in 2014, it has been a story of rise and rise — with twists in the tale. As in 2022, when he became a reluctant deputy to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in the government formed after the Uddhav Thackeray government collapsed and the Shiv Sena broke into two. In fact, Fadnavis is also given much of the credit, or discredit, for engineering the splits in the Sena and then in the NCP, the “tod phod (destruction)” of parties that has rearranged beyond recognition the Maharashtra political landscape. As he is sworn in as Chief Minister for the third time, the BJP is clearly in charge and its Mahayuti allies come in a distant second. There are challenges ahead for the new government, but for now, ally trouble doesn’t seem to be one of them.
The winning BJP campaign in Maharashtra featured polarising slogans – “ek hain toh safe hain”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Fadnavis was seen to stir the communal pot enthusiastically. As the head of a government with a large mandate and as a leader who knows better, he must now send a message that he will reach out and include, not just those who voted for the Mahayuti, but also those who did not. The onus of sobriety and large-heartedness is also on him. Maharashtra and Mumbai are a destination for aspirations — local, regional and national. From affirming identity to nurturing enterprise, agriculture to industry, physical infrastructure to social well-being, he has his task cut out.
