Year-End: Post 2019 Assembly elections Maharashtra politics has seen “The End of Isms”

X: @prashanthamine

Mumbai: Post 2019 Assembly elections Maharashtra politics has seen “The End of Isms”. Decade’s old electoral alliances snapped in a jiffy and new alliances between diametrically opposed ideologies were forged, borne more out of political expediency than anything else.

Alexsandras Shtromas, a former Reader in Politics, in his book “The End of ‘Isms’? Reflections on the Fate of Ideological Politics after Communism’s Collapse,” edited in 1994 dealt with analyses of ideological shifts post-Communism in the US, West Europe, and Russia. 

The trend of reshaping new post and pre-poll alliances has continued even after the 2024 Assembly elections. It has continued so even in the recently concluded Municipal Council elections in Maharashtra.

Ideological Isms literally have no meaning these days as Shiv Sena (SSUBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has made a dramatic U turn in his ideological stance and allied with once ideological arch rivals – the Congress and the Sharad Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP SP) faction.

The trio together cobbled up the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to grab power in the state. However, the same MVA today is finding it difficult to induct Uddhav Thackeray’s once estranged cousin, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray. The two once estranged cousins mended fences which is hard for the Congress to adjust with for the ensuing Municipal Corporation elections in January 2026.

Even in the recently held Municipal Council elections many such bizzarre pre-poll alliances of political conveniences were witnessed. These alliances were borne more out of the burning desire to teach their common arch rival a political lesson of his or her lifetime.

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In Konkan region, in Sindhudurg, all the arch rivals of local strongman, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narayan Rane, his MLA son Nitesh Rane rallied behind Rane seniors elder son Nilesh Rane to ensure that the Rane family not only split vertically, but a sweet political revenge was extracted.

In Beed district, the once estranged Munde cousins Pankaja and Dhananjay Munde buried their political hatchet and ensured that their political arch rivals like the Kshirsagar’s and Solankhe’s didn’t grab power. Both Pankaja Munde, a BJP minister in the Mahayuti government and Dhananjay in Ajit Pawar led NCP faction, both joined hands together to ensure that their hold on local Beed district power politics remained intact.

Many critics are rubbing their hands in glee at the sight of the Mahayuti or the MVA partners engaging in friendly contests between them to edge out their respective local arch rivals. Such alliances are forged and driven by mutual understanding and power sharing and have got nothing to do with any ideological Ism as long as the ultimate aim of power grabbing is not achieved.

There are some critics who tend to label these mid-term local bodies elections as Mini Assembly elections or a referendum on the ruling alliance government.

As stated earlier, local alliances are forged with even arch political rivals be it at the taluka, district or state level, even if the state or national level leaderships do not see eyeball to eyeball with each other politically.

These local bodies elections, especially in rural Maharashtra are fought more on the basis and strength of a local politicians hold on local cooperative’s, credit societies, cooperative banks, sugar and spinning mills. This political clout is then reflected in the leaders grassroots presence at the polling booth level in his or her own civic constituency.

It’s the ability to control the political and money power at the grassroots level is what determines ones electoral success in these civic elections.

It is this one above factor that often causes long standing alliances to snap and new alliance emerge. No local politician worth his clout would ever think of sharing, or exchange his nurtured constituency with his political ally, forget about abdicating it without a fight with his arch rival.

Giving up on ones own local political turf for the sake of alliances at this level is like giving up on your Assembly or Lok Sabha aspirations.

Another crucial factor that most critics, political analysts tend to overlook and end up picking the wrong end is because many tend to overlook the grassroots presence and cadre strengths at the polling booth level.

Although the money power and local dynamics still plays a key role in determining the electoral outcomes in these elections, it’s your booth level representative who indicates your political partys presence at the polling booth level.

Some political parties may cry hoarse find excuses in blaming the State Election Commission of Maharashtra (SECM) in these civic elections, or the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the case of Assembly or Lok Sabha elections, and the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for their electoral defeats, what they conveniently tend to overlook their own shortcomings at the polling booth level.

Another big mistake that many political parties and their top leaders tend to do is to ignore the aspirations of the dedicated party worker while nurturing dynastic politics. Most political parties in their bid to expand their grassroots presence tend to induct leaders and cadres from rival political parties who are not necessarily in tune with the partys ideology.

In such cases the political and electoral success may be short lived and may not last long. It also demotivates the dedicated party cadre who may either switch sides or take a backseat. It is one of the reasons why political parties find their presence at the polling booth shrink and their grassroots presence erode even faster.

Why a voter would may be inclined to vote for a political party or a candidate who hardly has any grassroots presence. In these civic polls, for an ordinary citizen it is the easy accessibility to the neighbourhood civic Corporator to solve his daily small issues like water supply, garbage collection, road repairs and other small personal issues like gainful employment, is what counts, besides political and other monetary considerations.

It is another way for the aspiring politician to build a committed vote bank which will ensure him a long political career and continued electoral success in not just these civic polls, but later on in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Until and unless political parties and their top leaders do not recognize the importance of their grassroots and polling booth level presence, welfare delivery and dedicated party cadres, there is no point in blaming the system or the administration. And most importantly stop taking the voter for granted by offering freebies that will not pay long lasting dividends.