Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray is slowly but surely destroying the legacy of his father Bala Saheb Thackeray that was built on the ethos of nationalism, and sub-nationalism of the common ‘Marathi Maanus’. Ever since Uddhav joined forces with Congress and NCP in an alliance of compromised moral values and tarnished ideologies, he has taken decisions that one would have hitherto undreamt of. In his latest brain fade moment, Uddhav used the police machinery of the state to arrest Union Minister Narayan Rane. BJP and Rane are now raising the question of Maratha pride to corner Uddhav and sway the all-important vote bank.
Rana was detained for his remarks against Uddhav Thackeray. In the statement, Rane said he wished to slap chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for forgetting the number of years since Indian independence.
“It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to enquire [with his chief secretary] about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given him a slap under his ears”
Uddhav before severing ties with BJP had fought the assembly election by playing the Maratha card incessantly. Parties like Shiv Sena have used the trope of sub-nationalism by taking it to an extreme. Often claiming to go the distance and willing to lay down their lives to uphold the Maratha pride. However, by coming after an influential Maratha leader, Uddhav appears to have shot himself in the foot.
BJP and Rane on Wednesday remarked that the Jan Ashirwad Yatra that the latter had been organising with his colleagues from the Centre will resume on Friday in Sindhudurg. The Maratha pride and how it has been hurt by the dictatorial arrest of Rane will be milked to full effect in the Yatra.
Narayan Rane was the leader of Shiv Sena for a time, and his rebellion only reached a tipping point when Uddhav Thackeray was made the working president of Shiv Sena. In the aftermath, he first went to Congress, but soon joined BJP where he was granted a cabinet berth in the Modi government.
PM Modi and Amit Shah appear to have been the architect behind this move. It is believed that by bringing old Narayan Rane into active state politics, BJP can create trouble for Shiv Sena. Rane, who has been in the political arena for almost 50 years, has a huge support base. Not only this, but he also easily fills the void of a strong Maratha leader in Maharashtra for BJP.
Narayan Rane is an aggressive politician, who knows how to give it back to Shiv Sena. Despite his departure from Shiv Sena, his support base has not diminished. He comes from the Konkan region, where the Maratha vote bank is dominant. In Maharashtra’s 288 assembly seats, about 30 per cent are Maratha voters, on whom the BJP has launched a siege through Narayan Rane.
With an eye on BMC elections and the 2024 and the assembly elections, BJP is using Rane to play its Maratha card and carefully erode the vote bank from Sena and Uddhav.