As questions swirl around the lack of cohesion among Opposition alliance constituents at the national and state levels, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena UBT president Uddhav Thackeray Friday acknowledged that there is “confusion” within the INDIA bloc and the state Maha Vikas Aghadi and said “I hope things work out”.
In an interview with The Indian Express as Maharashtra braces for civic body elections on January 15, Thackeray, responding to a question on the future of the INDIA bloc and the MVA, said, “There is surely a state of confusion. It is there. But slowly, this confusion will go away. Time needs to be given to it. Nothing happens overnight.” The full transcript of the interview will be published on Saturday morning.
“Yes, there is confusion. Why should I deny? But I hope things work out. Experience is the greatest teacher. But the INDIA alliance will remain intact,” he said.
His remarks come in the wake of shifting alliances in Maharashtra for the civic body polls and the Bihar electoral setback for the INDIA bloc that have triggered a blame game among Opposition partners and led to calls for introspection and review of strategies.
Asked if Opposition partners could still align despite such developments, Thackeray said unity was possible if all constituents were guided by a common principle. “If everyone accepts ‘desh pratham’ (nation first), then all will come together,” Uddhav said.
He said the INDIA bloc at the national level and the MVA in Maharashtra were both passing through a state of “confusion” but underlined that “with time, everything will be in place again”.
In the high-stakes civic body polls in Maharashtra, MVA partners have gone their own separate ways in many corporations. The Congress has decided to contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic body elections independently, without an alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP).
On the other hand, NCP factions led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar have decided to come together in at least two municipal corporations, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, despite being rivals after the split in the party in July 2023.
Uddhav Thackeray with his wife Rashmi (File Photo: ANI)
Speaking on the ED raids on I-PAC, the firm managing the poll campaign of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, Thackeray said that he supported the Chief Minister’s stand. He said this was a case of “misuse” of Central investigation agencies.
“What Mamata Ji did was right. There is misuse of the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation,” he said.
Raising questions on the status of earlier cases, he targeted the ruling party at the Centre. “Whoever joins them gets a clean chit. This is a misuse of power and it must be opposed,” he said.
On BJP
Asked about the possibility of reconciliation with the BJP like he did with MNS chief Raj Thackeray, he said that though Raj and he had parted ways, they did not change their stance on “Marathi identity, Hindutva and Maharashtra” and, therefore, together for a cause because they felt that others were taking advantage of their divide.
“Raj and I were estranged, but Marathi identity, Hindutva, and Maharashtra were never abandoned by either of us. We were working separately. If BJP benefits because we are divided and they succeed in their goal, that should not happen, so we decided to unite. We reunited for a cause,” he said.
“We were with the BJP for Hindutva. But today, I don’t understand BJP’s version or framework of Hindutva. They have banned cow slaughter in Maharashtra but not in Goa or the North-East. They create Hindu-Muslim divisions. If I join Congress, I am told I have abandoned Hindutva, but when they do all this, it’s acceptable? When BJP does something, it’s Amar Prem; when we do it, it’s Love Jihad. They were not part of the freedom struggle or the Samyukta Maharashtra movement. They only create fights. They are dangerous,” Uddhav said.
Language and identity issues
On the issue of divisions over language and identity becoming a political issue, Uddhav Thackeray said, “We are not against non-Marathis, but against those who are trying to snatch and loot Mumbai by doing injustice to us. We are not against all the Gujarati or North and South Indians. I am 65 years old now. There are many older Gujaratis in Mumbai whose grandfathers and great-grandfathers have been living in Mumbai. All of them are living here peacefully, in harmony.”
“Our fight is against those who are doing injustice to us. I also have a lot of Gujarati, North Indian and South Indian friends. There are also such Shiv Sainiks. So we are not against all of them… For the past several years, we have been running the BMC and through it we are giving quality education. We are also teaching in eight different languages, Hindi, Urdu, and Gujarati, among others,” Uddhav said.
The development comes amid growing political speculation over attempts to engineer another crack in the Sena (UBT), nearly four years after Shinde walked out with MLAs in June 2022 (Express File Photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee) 
Uddhav Thackeray with his wife Rashmi (File Photo: ANI)
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