The donations to Shiv Sena declined from 86.84 crores in FY16 to 25.65 crores in FY17. According to a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), the donations to AGP, SAD, JDS, MNS, and AAP saw maximum increase in FY 16. Although Shiv Sena (SS) leads with Rs 25.65 crore from 297 donations followed by AAP, the donations to Maharashtra based party has decreased significantly while other regional parties like AAP, SAD saw a substantial increase. This comes at a time when the political clout of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra is weakening. The party was not very strong in the hinterlands of the states even earlier, its support base was limited to Konkan regions which consist of Mumbai city, Mumbai suburban, Thane and Raigadh districts. But the rise of BJP in Maharashtra with the party getting its first chief minister in the state has weakened the clout of Shiv Sena significantly. The incompetent Uddhav Thackeray got the reins of the party after the sad demise of Balashaeb Thackeray. The donors no longer see future of the party in the hands of Uddav Thackeray and his equally incompetent son Aditya Thackeray.
The Konkan region which is the historical stronghold of the party is slowly slipping away to BJP. The Marathi youth in Mumbai could no longer be appeased by the anti-migration rhetoric of the party. The non-Marathi population constitutes majority population in the metropolitan and they are not going to vote for Shiv Sena in any case. The Gujarati people makeup almost 20 percent of the city and they have completely moved to BJP due to their love for PM Modi. The youth is happy with the performance of Devendra Fadnavis who is considered the face of the new economy of the country. He is implementing many infrastructure projects for the city with the help of the central government. The great city of Mumbai did not have a Metro till 2014 which itself epitomized how badly the city was ignored by its politicians.
Shiv Sena controls the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for more than a decade but nothing concrete has been done by the party to improve the dismal living conditions of the city. BMC is the richest Municipal Corporation in the country with a budget which is more than the GDP of many states of the country. Still, the party has not been able to do something to improve the civic amenities in the city. The people of Mumbai no longer trust the leadership of the party because Uddhav Thackeray is not even shadow image of Balasaheb. He has continuously ranted against the Modi government and the BJP and has been a complete failure as a politician. After the state assembly elections, the BJP focused on increasing its clout in Maharashtra and Shiv Sena in their blind hatred for the BJP but ended up losing their footprints in Maharashtra politics. Under the questionable leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, Shivsena is increasingly becoming irrelevant in Maharashtra.
Uddhav failed to realize the change of waves during the last Maharashtra assembly elections and still wants to act like a bigger partner in the coalition with the BJP. He wants to dominate the Maharashtra politics just like Balasaheb Thackeray used to do. But one thing he needs to understand is that he does not have the charisma like Bala Saheb. Bala Saheb was a man of principles while Uddhav is behaving like all other stubborn dynast politicians. That’s why his dreams to dominate Maharashtra politics were shattered. Uddhav is frustrated because Modi-Shah duo’s smart politics first reduced him to play second fiddle in the alliance, and now Fadnavis’ political acumen is pushing him to oblivion. His immature behavior and statements only show that he is still in the kindergarten of politic and this immaturity is finishing the party.
