If there was a prize for the most confused Party in India, Shiv Sena would certainly have won that one. They have been the only political party top present two diverse opinions on Demonetization, that too within a month, The Shiv Sena on 14th November 2016 described demonetization as “demonic and unsystematic” which led to “financial anarchy” in the country. “125 crore Indians are standing in queues in scorching heat without food and water.’ quoted LiveMint. Then, on 22nd November 2016, Shiv Sena had a massive change of heart after meeting PM Modi. They said “Our MPs had a good meeting with the Prime Minister. The delegation assured him that we are all in the NDA.” They further described demonetization as a ‘bold and historic’ move.
Currently, Shiv Sena has had a seasonal change of heart again and they now claim that post demonetization, ‘people have turned into beggars’. Sena in its mouthpiece editorial ‘Saamana’ opines that Indians have turned into beggars. Which is a typical just-for-kicks statement.
Shiv Sena, it seems, is still to recover from the shock of the reality that BJP didn’t just make heavy inroads into Maharashtrian politics, but also formed a government in the state. Shiv Sena still wants to relive the era when Balasaheb controlled the NDA government in Maharashtra. After Pandering to congress and meeting with pseudo-seculars like Mamata Banerjee, Shiv Sena is anything but the party that Staunch Nationalist and Hindutva Icon Balasaheb had founded, and of course Shah and Modi are no minions.
Shiv Sena knows that it is rapidly losing control of the state, however they fail to read the writing on the wall and remain an adamantly arrogant party bereft of agenda, issues and public support. Their statements like those on demonetization are a stark reminder of what the party has become vis a vis what it could have become. Of late, Salvos are being fired at BJP from almost everyone in Shiv Sena, a movement spearheaded by Sanjay Raut. Sadly, the current chief Uddhav Thackeray isn’t doing anything about it. Shiv Sena’s role as an ally of the BJP is questionable, because the stunts which it pulls on a regular basis has Opposition written all over it. Only a highly tolerant Party like BJP could stomach all those insults. What it looks to me is an attempt to remain in limelight by lousy means.
Shiv Sena possibly wants to show that it has the courage to stand up against the BJP, and that without its thumbs up BJP cannot function which is both funny and absurd. Threats to withdraw from the alliance have yielded them nothing so far. Shiv Sena has opposed BJP on every major decision in the state, while continually romancing the opposition. Observing their current gimmickry and lack of seriousness and reactive, reactionary and whining attitude, their political future looks bleak.
Speaking of demonetization, 8th of November marked its first anniversary. Numbers don’t lie and in one year we have some numbers to share.
- Benami assets worth Rs. 1,626 crores seized.
• 2.24 Lakh shell companies struck off.
• 17.73 lakh suspicious cases identified where cash deposits do not match tax profile.
• 16,000 Cr did not come back to banks after demonetization.
• Undisclosed income worth Rs. 29,313 Cr detected and admitted.
• 0.00011% of India’s population deposited 33% of total cash in country.
• Stone-pelting incidents in Kashmir down by 75%.
• 7.62 pieces of fake currency detected.
• 50 lakh new bank accounts opened to enable cashless transactions of wages.
• Tax base increased by 27%, from 66.53 lakh to 84.21 lakh.
• Digital payments boosted by 58% as compared to August 2016.
• Loans get cheaper as lending rates declined by around 100 points.
Numbers seem to suggest that people seemed to like the Move, only the ones who had to part away with their precious hoarded monies were destroyed. Shiv Sena these aren’t the markings of a nation whose people became beggars overnight.
Jag Jaago, Tabhi Savera is a very famous quote in Hindi, it means whenever you wake up, it’s dawn time. Shiv Sena has slept for far too long. It needs to wake up to the new dawn, smell the coffee and get into the role of a strong ally and a cooperative one at that. Because BJP doesn’t stand to lose if the alliance were to break but Shiv Sena has everything to lose in the only state in which they command some power. They should stop being a confused party and finish the work that the Party Founder, the Legendary Balasaheb Undertook.