The Election Commission order allocating the Shiv Sena name and symbol to the breakaway Eknath Shinde-led faction is a big blow to the Thackerays, the founders and, for almost all of its existence, the first family of the party. Ever since its birth on June 19, 1966, till Shinde took away a large chunk of the party in 2022, the Sena's identity was patriarch Bal Thackeray; his fiery image coalescing with the Sainiks' identity as an organisation not averse to taking the law into their own hands for the party's cause. The 'bow and arrow' symbol or “dhanush-baan”, with its link to both Chhatrapati Shivaji (from whom the Sena draws its name) and Hindutva imagery, completed the picture. While the control he came to wield over Mumbai took Thackeray Sr to the heights of power, where he rubbed shoulders with the who's who from the state capital to Delhi, the Sena's strength has always remained its footsoldiers. Son Uddhav Thackeray already had big shoes to fill following his father's demise, with the BJP seizing the opening it saw in the state. The decision to break from the BJP to join hands with the NCP and Congress was Uddhav's way of asserting his authority. That had taken the first blow when Shinde took away 40 Sena MLAs, causing the Sena-NCP-Congress government to fall, as well as entire local units with him. Just as Uddhav had steadied the ship, fighting off the charge that he had “betrayed” Hindutva and hence Balasaheb by going to the other side, comes the Election Commission order. Will the Sainiks who had retained the faith in the Thackerays despite the upheaval continue to do so, given the official stamp on the Shinde faction, is a question weighing on everyone's mind. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, the eminence grise of Maharashtra politics, whom Uddhav too has leaned on, once admitted to a close circle the enormity of the Sena leader's task. "Balasaheb's appeal amongst his Sainiks was difficult to imagine, many of them would have been ready to go to any lengths for him." A jubilant Eknath Shinde, the leader of the now official Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Chief Minister, said Friday: "Those doubting the inheritance of the Sena and the symbol bow and arrow have been silenced. Our sincere commitment to Balasaheb has yielded the result in our favour.” Calling the EC order “dangerous for democracy” and saying they will move the Supreme Court, Uddhav said: “They (the Shinde faction) have stolen our bow and arrow symbol, but people will avenge this theft.” While for Shinde it's a victory once thought unimaginable, for the BJP too, it is a triumph. The party that vowed to take the fight against the Thackerays to the finish, particularly after Uddhav's 2019 desertion, will pat itself on the back for the EC order. After having rattled some skeletons in the 2019 cupboard recently, BJP leader and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis was cautious in his response Friday: "I congratulate the CM and Sainiks all over Maharashtra for adhering to Bal Thackeray's ideology and teachings." State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, "The real inheritor of Thackeray's political legacy, who upheld Hindutva, has been awarded the legitimate Shiv Sena and the bow and arrow symbol." While the Uddhav-led Shiv Sena faction is likely to challenge the order, the party admits the going will be tough. A senior leader of the party, that calls itself Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), said: "We are down but not out. Under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray and Aditya Thackeray, we will have to rebuild the organisation to give it a new identity." The first impact will be felt in the coming polls for the BMC, the Mumbai civic body that has been for 20-plus years the Shiv Sena's turf. Given the divided Sena ranks, the BJP is hoping to seize that bastion now. The BMC polls will be followed by the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2024. While Friday was a day of victory for the BJP-Shinde Sena side, it too realises the Sainiks might not come over as easily as it hopes, which would make its target of 45-plus seats out of 48 in the Lok Sabha and 200 of 288 in the Assembly elections difficult. A BJP leader said the biggest challenge will be making inroads into traditional Sena bastions in rural areas. A senior MVA leader admitted the EC decision was a setback. "What remains to be seen is whether the public sentiment helps the Thackerays hold their house in order, at least for the BMC polls." However, party sources admitted, a weakened Uddhav means the NCP and Congress can also consolidate their own party units across Maharashtra. Officially, allies such as the NCP expressed “shock” at the EC order. NCP MP Supriya Sule noted, "It was the late Bal Thackeray who appointed Uddhav Thackeray as his political heir." Congress chief Nana Patole said people knew that it was the BJP's might and its “misuse” of institutions talking. "People will give the party which has bulldozed through this decision a befitting reply,” he said.
