After having bragged about over how he had delivered a knock-out punch on the Shiv Sena plans to grab power in the 2009, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray now seems to be vying for a space in the already crowded opposition benches. Since his first election rally on October 10 at Santacruz, the MNS chief has been urging people to elect the MNS as a “competent opposition”. The belated wisdom comes after having vacillated from supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, to launching a tirade against it in the April-May 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Critics are divided over whether is it a belated wisdom dawned on the MNS chief that the road to absolute power was through first seeking the lost public trust by performing the role of a “competent opposition”. Or is it the realization of where the MNS stands currently in Maharashtra politics.
As once senior Sena leader and Minister for Environment Ramdas Kadam had observed after leaving the Sena fold in 2007, Raj Thackeray had the sympathy with him from the section of the electorate who felt grave injustice had been done on him. He did encash that sympathy factor to his advantage by managing to win 13 seats in the 2009 assembly elections and seriously damaging the Sena prospects in more than a dozen odd seats in the process. It was then seen as Raj Thackerays sweet revenge on the Sena, having denied it a shot to power in 2009.
That heady success was replicated in 2012 as the MNS with the help of the BJP managed to gain power in the Nashik Municipal Corporation. However, his grand plans of beautification of the Godavari river front in Nashik and other civic works apparently failed to impress the voters who in 2017 voted the MNS out and handed power to the BJP which had played its second fiddle until then.
Those were the days when he talked about his vision for the development of Maharashtra. He even met chairman emeritus of Tata group of companies, Ratan Tata over his plans for the state. Later, a consulting firm was even hired to draw up the plan. After much delay and criticism, Raj Thackeray on eve of elections in September 2014, came out with his much talked off “Blue Print” for Maharashtra with a tag line “Yes it is possible”.
That grandiose plan was for some mysterious reasons shelved as his visit to Gujarat left him in such awe with the then BJP Chief Minister Narendra Modi that he whole-heartedly supported the latters candidature for the Prime Ministership of the country in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, within matter of few months most of his trusted aides like Praveen Darekar, Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam and others deserted him for greener pastures elsewhere. The luck and charisma too deserted the MNS chief who could barely manage to get a lone MLA Sharad Sonawane elected from Junnar. As stated earlier, MNS was voted out of power in the Nashik civic body. The public anger was such that the MNS lost all the three urban seats of Nashik in the 2014 assembly elections.
More disaster was in store for the MNS in October of 2017 as six out its seven corporator’s in the Sena ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) walked over to the Sena side in a hassle free defection that raised some eyebrows on whether it was a bail-out package for the Sena as the BJP was within whiskers distance of unseating it from power in the BMC.
From being in awe of Modi in 2014, to being his bitterest critic in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the vacillation of the MNS chief was complete. Despite not contesting a single Lok Sabha seat, Thackeray went about the town with his famous catch line “Lavre toh Video” in an apparent bid to expose the alleged corrupt deeds of the Modi government at election rallies. Although he did not openly canvas for the opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance, he did urge the voters not to vote for Modi and BJP. However, the MNS chiefs covert support did not help the opposition Congress-NCP alliance, damaging the Congress more than the NCP in the end.
With the credibility at an all-time low, MNS chief needed something dramatic to once again draw the public attention towards him. Hence in a bid to shock the electorate, he did make the bizarre plea to elect the MNS as a strong opposition. His argument has been that the present Congress-NCP led opposition has lost its sting and ruling Sena-BJP legislators cannot exert pressure on their own government and hence a strong opposition is needed which can force the government to act or question its acts of omission and commission.
But now, the MNS has a formidable opposition in the form of Prakash Ambedkar led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). The VBA had in the recent Lok Sabha elections shown its mettle as it damaged the poll prospects of the Congress, NCP. Besides VBA, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which was dormant since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections has suddenly sprung to life. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has broken ranks with the VBA and is contesting on its own steam. Moreover, in the last five years the Sena has played the role of the “ruling opposition” denying the opposition space to the Congress-NCP.
In a field that is already over-crowded with so many aspirants, at the hindsight it does appear to be a wise thing to do, to be in the opposition ranks while the rest are desperately trying to grab the piece of the pie. History has shown that a relatively unknown Congress back-bencher Babasaheb Bhosale was suddenly pitch-forked to being the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for about a year on January 21, 1982. Who knows may be for the MNS the road to power may well lead from the opposition benches. In elections when everyone seeks a mandate for power, it remains to be seen whether the electorate grants MNS chief his mandate to be in the opposition benches.
