Barely a fortnight after the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance was routed in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP) announced Saturday that it is quitting the MVA, saying that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was “back to his old position justifying the Babri Masjid demolition” which, it added, was “unacceptable”.
“We have quit the MVA. What is the point of continuing in the front where there is no uniformity on issues nor adequate consultation with allies?” state SP chief Abu Azmi said.
The SP has been a part of the larger MVA alliance which essentially comprises the Congress, Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP).
The SP’s move came after Uddhav’s close aide and Sena (UBT) MLC Milind Narvekar posted an image of the Babri Masjid demolition on X. The picture also showed Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, Uddhav and his son Aaditya, along with a caption in Marathi that read: “Those who did this, I am proud of them.” This was reportedly the remark made by late Bal Thackeray after the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
“(Uddhav) Thackeray joined the MVA in 2019. At that time, he vouched for secularism to win the support of Congress. After the defeat in the Assembly polls, Thackeray is back to his old position justifying the Babri Masjid demolition. This is unacceptable to us. Therefore, we have decided to walk out of the MVA,” Azmi said.
In the Assembly polls, the incumbent BJP-led Mahayuti, which also includes the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-headed NCP, pulled off a stunning victory, bagging 230 out of 288 seats. Of the MVA partners, the Sena (UBT) won 20 seats, with the Congress and the NCP(SP) getting 16 and 10 seats respectively.
The SP won two out of eight seats it contested, including six seats where it had a “friendly fight” with the MVA allies.
“What is the use of continuing in MVA? They don’t talk to us. We were not part of strategies or ticket distribution,” Azmi, who won from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat, said.
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The Sena (UBT) camp hit back at the SP, with its leader Bhaskar Jadhav pointing out that his party’s stand on the Babri demolition has remained the same since 1992. He asked whether the SP has taken note of the Sena’s stand after 32 years, accusing it of allegedly tilting towards the Mahayuti alliance now.
Last week, soon after the poll results, Uddhav held a meeting with party MLAs and corporators, in which a majority of them expressed the view that the party should revert to their original Hindutva agenda. They said the perception of the Sena ( UBT) “going secular” has adversely affected their electoral fortunes, sources said.
While Uddhav reasoned with them, saying that the party had never compromised with its Hindutva ideology, he urged them to campaign aggressively and explain it to people, sources said.
The Sena (UBT) leader and Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve, had at that meeting blamed “Congress overconfidence” for the MVA debacle.
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“Till last minute Congress kept fighting for seats. This affected the results. Had they projected Uddhav Thackeray as the next CM, we would have got 5 to 7 per cent more votes,” Danve claimed.
While the Sena (UBT) has been insisting that it has continued to be part of the MVA, a party section is of the opinion that they should now chart their independent course outside the MVA. In the run-up to the coming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, this section argues, the party should recalibrate its position centred on its original “Hndutva and son-of-soil” plank.
Both the Congress and the NCP(SP) tried to play down the row. “The SP is a part of INDIA alliance. We will discuss the stand taken by Abu Azmi with Akhilesh Yadav (SP national president) and decide about it. We will also hold talks with Abu Azmi and will convince him to stay with the MVA,” senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said.
On Narvekar’s post about the Babri demolition, another Congress leader said it will have to be checked with senior Sena (UBT) leaders to ascertain if it is their party’s official stand or Narvekar’s personal position.
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NCP(SP) leader Jitendra Awhad said, “He (Azmi) must have said it in anger. I will discuss with him. Even our senior leaders will hold talks with him and find a way out of it.”
Amid the row, Sena (UBT) leader Danve said, “Sena UBT never abandoned Hindutva. We were always Hindutvawadi but that doesn’t mean our ideology is against Muslims or we have opposed Muslims ever. Our Hindutva is related to nationalism and patriotism. Our fight was always against pseudo-secularism.”
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