The Rajya Sabha passed the historic Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 with 125-99 majority on Wednesday. When the Bill went to vote in Rajya Sabha, all eyes were on the Shiv Sena. The Uddhav Thackeray led party which claims to espouse the cause of Hindutva had voted in favour of the CAB in the Lok Sabha which had invited ire from Congress, Sena’s coalition partner in the state of Maharashtra.
After the Shiv Sena voted in favour of the CAB in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress had expressed strong displeasure with the Shiv Sena. The grand old party had also invoked the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) between the three coalition partners in the state of Maharashtra. Congress leader, Balasaheb Thorat had said that Sena should have acted in accordance with the CMP arrived at by the Maha Vikas Aghadi — which also includes NCP. Another Congress leader, Naseem Khan had also expressed displeasure with the Shiv Sena and had said that it should have taken its allies into confidence before supporting the move. He had added, “This is immoral, unconstitutional and against the common minimum programme.”
What the Congress did was to give indirect threats to the Shiv Sena about the kind of consequences it could face if it voted in favour of the Bill in the Upper House of the Parliament. The Uddhav Thackeray led Sena immediately went into damage control and party leader, Sanjay Raut, therefore, came up with the bizarre argument that the dynamics in the two Houses of Parliament were different, and if the government wanted Sena’s support in Rajya Sabha, then it would have to answer their queries on the CAB.
The Shiv Sena was clearly caught in a conundrum before the Bill was tabled in Rajya Sabha. The party has spent massive political capital, including its core ideology, to form government in the state of Maharashtra.
The Sena, therefore, could not afford to draw a wedge between the coalition partners in Maharashtra by voting in support of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, as that would have meant curtains for the newly formed government. On the other hand, the party couldn’t afford to vote against the Bill either for it would have given a loud and clear message that the party has become a remote control subject to the whims and fancies of the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress. Moreover, this would have also meant that the party has completely given up on the Hindutva cause which it still claims to espouse.
In order to avoid the ire of the Congress on one hand and mockery in public view on the other, the Shiv Sena tried to find a middle way. It simply walked out and therefore did not vote either for or against the CAB. The Shiv Sena tried to play safe and smart in a desperate bid to save the coalition government in Maharashtra from getting toppled.
While the Shiv Sena tried to soothe a furious Congress with its deceptive move, it is unlikely that the grand old party would be done in by this move. In fact, before the Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had said that staging a walkout in the Rajya Sabha would be the easiest way to help the Modi government.
Though the Shiv Sena ostensibly refused to support the Bill by walking out when the voting took place, the walkout in itself did help in the smooth passage of the CAB. It would be imprudent to believe that the Congress would be done in by this deceptive move. The grand old party would have in all probability understood the real intention behind Sena’s move that could prove to be the point of conflict that triggers the downfall of the coalition government in Maharashtra. With the passage of CAB and Shiv Sena’s walkout, the coalition government seems all set to get toppled in the near future.
