Maharashtra Civic Polls: Shiv Sena ups Hindutva ante against BJP

The Supreme Court’s judgment on January 2 of on elections being a secular exercise should have given the Shiv Sena pause for thought. Instead, two decades after the Election Commission barred Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray and Sena leader late Dr Ramesh Prabhoo from voting or contesting elections for six years—effectively ending the latter’s career—the party is sharpening its claws again on Hindutva. And it has neatly turned the tables on the BJP, with the Sena’s rhetoric once again proving too much for its ally, which cannot allow Hindutva to derail it's claim of good governance.

At the elections to the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation in 2015, a newly honed version of the Sena’s Hindutva rhetoric, more combative than before, came to light, helped and egged on by the presence of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-e-Muslimeen in the fray. They fed on each other and managed to edge out the Congress, with the Sena winning the corporation and the AIMIM coming second.

But now, with elections to four major municipal corporations Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Nagpur due on February 21, the Sena’s main rival at all four is not the Congress or the AIMIM but the BJP, which has steadfastly refused to ally with the party, believing that it has a good chance of winning these corporations on its development agenda. How, then, does the Shiv Sena counter that campaign? With Hindutva again, this time putting the BJP on the back foot.

The Union government’s demonetisation has come as a boon to the Shiv Sena in this regard. It is believed that a large portion of the BJP’s trader base, particularly in Mumbai, might shift to the Sena, which has consistently needled the BJP over the hardships caused to the common man by the poor implementation of the scheme. However, another fallout of demonetisation has come as an even bigger boon to the Sena.

Just a day after the Supreme Court judgment, the Sena found an unexpected bonanza when priests from the Tryambakeshwar Jyotirlinga temple in Nashik district called on Uddhav Thackeray at his Matoshree residence in Mumbai, and bitterly complained to him that they were being singled out by tax authorities. It is significant that they chose Uddhav, who holds no constitutional position, and not Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to make that complaint.

Some days ago, the Income Tax Department, getting wind of the fact that many people had attempted to get rid of black money through huge cash donations to various temples, had raided some poojaris. The priests apparently complained to Uddhav that it was only they who were being targetted, although the raids were as much a secular exercise as the Supreme Court ruled elections should be. Although Uddhav’s roars are not quite as loud as his father’s, he nevertheless warned the government that he “would rise in anger’’ if Hindus were unnecessarily troubled by the government.

One stone, two birds

Nashik in recent weeks has also seen the civic body, controlled by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, raze dozens of illegal shrines all across the district. The demolition was conducted only after due permission was received from Mantralaya. Fadnavis’s government was in a bind because the removal of those shrines had been ordered by the Bombay High Court, as these were encroaching on public spaces and inhibiting smooth traffic movement. The Shiv Sena is now seeking to make the demolitions an issue in the civic polls.

Though by and large the operations went off smoothly, with worshippers willingly removing the idols and allowing the authorities to get on with their task, the campaign ran into a road block when a particular temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa was razed in mid-November 2016. Kailash Mudaliyar, the trustee of the Balaji Social Foundation which ran the temple, is a Shiv Sena member, but his appeal to the government did not work and even the court turned down his appeal for a review. However, later other Sena members did succeed in appealing to the courts to stay the decision on demolition of at least two dozen shrines until mid-January, and now is claiming full credit for coming to the aid of worshippers at these temples. The court stay is likely to remain in place with the Nashik administration too busy enforcing the model code of conduct and left with little time to draw up a fresh list of illegal shrines before the elections.

The Shiv Sena is conscious of the fact that blaming the courts for their order will invite contempt charges. So they have shifted the blame on to the corporation authorities for providing the courts with a faulty list of illegal structures. While the municipal authorities undertake another review, it is unlikely that will be completed before the polls and the Shiv Sena is now aiming to kill two birds with one stone—the ruling MNS in the civic body and the BJP-led state government, which had to implement the court orders.

With its very existence at stake, the Shiv Sena is unlikely to be tamed by the Supreme Court’s recent judgment. Even if it desists from making official use of its Hindutva rhetoric, the Shiv Sena is going all out to emerge as a greater champion of Hindutva vis-a-vis its ally in government. It may well win the war of perception against the BJP, which is hamstrung by its promise of good governance. The Sena, junior partner in the state government, obviously feels it has no such responsibility.