The Shiv Sena is at it again. A week after they blackened the face of former BJP leader Sudheendra Kulkarni over former Pakistani foreign affairs minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book launch, a mob led by local Sena leaders stormed into the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) office in Mumbai and heckled its president Shashank Manohar. The reason – the possible cricket series with Pakistan.
The images were so powerful that all major TV news channels were forced to abruptly end the live telecast of the BJP national president Amit Shah and cut live to the rampage of Sainiks in Mumbai.
A few dozen Shiv Sena supporters forced their way into the office of the BCCI chief, shouted slogans and demanded that talks with Pakistan cricket board should not take place. The police later took the angry Shiv Sainiks into custody. As usual, the public opinion is divided over the issue.
Shiv Sena which is a coalition partner in the BJP-led Maharashtra government and the Narendra Modi-led Central government is behaving like the main opposition and is not missing even a small opportunity to embarrass the BJP. After it was forced to back the BJP swallowing its ‘pride’, the Shiv Sena has been the most vocal critic of the BJP, both at the Centre and state. Its mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ is full of anti-BJP stories and editorials. It always takes a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Sena has always been uncomfortable with the idea of accepting Modi and Amit Shah as BJP leaders. After Modi’s name was declared as BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate in mid-2013, Sena had openly criticised the move. The Lok Sabha seat sharing also soured their relationship. After Modi-led BJP swept the polls, he hit back at the Sena by not offering them any plum portfolio in his Cabinet.
Four months later, Sena ended the almost 30-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP alliance ahead of Assembly polls in Maharashtra. The separation was acrimonious. After the BJP emerged as the single largest party, the Sena reluctantly backed the alliance. Once again the BJP ‘humiliated’ them by giving them minor portfolios.
After the most humiliating defeat of the BJP at the hands of the AAP in Delhi assembly elections, Shiv Sena was the first coalition partner to publicly attack Modi and rejoice his defeat. Shiv Sena even opposed the controversial Land Acquisition Bill and did not even attend the meetings.
They attacked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on several occasions in the last one year. His drought relief work came under severe attack from Shiv Sena.
Shiv Sena warned the Modi government over Pakistan not less than a dozen times in the last one year. Interestingly, the Sena is speaking the same language that Modi spoke before the Lok Sabha elections. Modi had continuously attacked Pakistan before the Lok Sabha elections. From cricket to bilateral talks, he had been opposed to any ties with Pakistan describing the Congress-led UPA as a weak government which had no spine to stand up to the neighbouring country .
The Sena has differed with the BJP on several issues in the state. Its intentions are much clear - Don’t miss any opportunity to embarrass the BJP, attack them on every occasion, create a situation where the BJP will be forced to sever ties with the Sena, go down as a martyr who ‘fights’ for the country, be a bigger ‘nationalist’ than the BJP and make the saffron party look bad in the eyes of its supporters.
The developments in the last one year have proved that the situation is going to get worse in the days to come. The showdown began long ago. What is left is the final showdown. It is a fight for supremacy in Maharashtra. Also a question of survival.
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