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Journalism of Courage
IN HIS first trip outside Mumbai to rally support since the revolt led by Eknath Shinde left the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena bleeding and out of power, Aaditya Thackeray has been underlining that their Sena is the “good” Sena.
Aaditya started his three-day ‘Shiv Sanvaad Yatra’ of districts Thane, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad on Thursday, and will wrap Saturday.
He is travelling by road, holding workers’ rallies and trying to enthuse supporters who remain with Uddhav’s Sena but are increasingly uncertain about their future as the exodus from the party continues and the civic polls approach.
The 32-year-old, a minister in the toppled MVA government and the heir to the Thackeray legacy, has been invoking the family name, counting on the emotional connect Sainiks have with Bal Thackeray. His message is that the rebels struck when Uddhav Thackeray was ailing, and that “good people” in politics have been betrayed by those whom the party (read Thackeray) trusted, and that he needs their support to continue and rebuild a new Shiv Sena.
At a rally in Nashik, attended by over a thousand party workers, Aaditya said the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena is “committed to 80% social work and only 20% politics”. “We can’t do (dirty) politics and that is the reason there was a rebellion and we were betrayed. I have been told many times since childhood that good people have no place in politics and I should not join it. The recent political drama that happened proves that. But I want to change this picture and prove that good people can also do politics. But for that I need your love and blessings. I am out to rebuild our party and Maharashtra.”
Aaditya tells people that the Shiv Sena had focused on development and social service as part of the MVA’s two-and-a-half year government. “Neither did we go after the Opposition MLAs, nor troubled them with agencies by sending notices. We didn’t keep a watch on the movements of our MLAs or MPs either as we trusted them. The faith we put in them has landed us here,” Aaditya said during his Nashik rallies. He said the new politics that was devoid of humanity would “create havoc in the country”.
The Sena leader is also reiterating in rallies that the newly formed government of Eknath Shinde-led Sena and the BJP is a “circus” and illegal, and is sure to fall soon.
Apart from assessing grass-root support for the party and reassuring the workers, the message from the Thackerays seems to be that they will not be vacating the field and very much fight back.
“The rallies will clear any confusion in the minds of party workers. There are hundreds of workers in every taluka who didn’t know what was happening or would happen with the Shiv Sena. With these meetings, we are getting clarity,” Rahul Jagdale from Nashik’s Dindori area, who attended a rally by Aaditya on Thursday, said.
