22 November 2019. The political standoff in Maharashtra had finally been finished, as per the Indian media. Sharad Pawar had confirmed that Uddhav Thackeray from Shiv Sena would lead the coalition of Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. Even newspapers were so confident about the same, that they had already printed Uddhav Thackeray’s name on the masthead in bold letters. However, by the morning of 23rd November, the equations had been reversed, and the newspapers were left redundant as soon as they were out.
Following their unceremonious breakup with BJP, Shiv Sena announced their decision to ally with Nationalist Congress Party and Indian National Congress, with whom they had acerbic relations when Balasaheb Thackeray reigned supreme. In order to stake claim to the government, Shiv Sena was ready to bend over the back if necessary, which included bizarre decisions as declaring themselves outright secular, supporting the vandalism in JNU, skipping the visit to the Ram Janmbhoomi complex of Ayodhya, and even revoking their claim on the demand to give Veer Savarkar the Bharat Ratna.
Following many meetings and discussions, the alliance had been locked, with Uddhav Thackeray as the Chief Minister designate. The newspapers were extremely confident in their approach, so much that they declared Uddhav as the outright CM of Maharashtra, courtesy the statement made by Sharad Pawar on the same. Following a few examples of the same –
However, the way in which the tables have turned in the following few hours, revealed the over confidence of media, as well as the way the so called political observers managed to underestimate the presence of Amit Shah, who had so far refrained from speaking directly on this matter. Not only did they over estimate the magnitude of Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, they also refused to ascertain the undercurrents within the NCP, led by Ajit Pawar. It seems that the newspapers had taken a leaf from ‘Faking News’ for their morning dose of 23rd November, for which they paid the price in a rather hilarious way.
The quick movements of the BJP skipped the observer’s eye, as everyone was focused entirely on the Shiv Sena NCP Congress coalition, and not a bit on the possible moves of Amit Shah. Like Goa, as well as some of the North Eastern states, the media failed to notice the silent coup that Amit Shah was orchestrating within the NCP. They probably failed to understand, that in today’s world, ‘CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT.’