Two years of MVA Govt: a story of survivability and impatience

Rarely in the past, the performance of the state government has been judged on its stability when the opposition was making all out efforts to dislodge it. This factor is difficult to ignore while analyzing two years of Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) rule in Maharashtra. The political atmosphere has been most vicious, full of hatred between the ruling and the opposition sides. 

An example may suffice to prove the kind of bitterness that exists today. Despite writing dozens of letters to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray highlighting various issues, Devendra Fadnavis and Pravin Darekar, the leaders of opposition in the state assembly and the state council respectively, have hardly received a formal reply from him. Such a response is contrary to the well-established norms when the CM is expected to respond immediately.

Moreover, the MVA government does not bother to extend a formal invitation to the opposition leaders for the inauguration of development projects even though they were approved during the previous rule.

Seeds of acrimony sown long back

The animosity between the ruling side and the opposition is noticeable. But seeds of it seem to have been sown even before the present government assumed power in November 2019. Soon after taking over, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress government was termed as a three-wheeled rickshaw. Such a government will not last for a long, predicted the BJP saying the Shiv Sena has given up its Hindutva ideology. But it has survived despite several controversies. 

The BJP prophesied the MVA government’s fall on several occasions, but it has proved wrong. Some of the BJP leaders even said their party may have a truck with the Shiv Sena again. But that too has not happened. Later, the senior leaders of BJP asked its cadres to stop speaking on joining hands with the Sena and the government was going to fall on its own. 

The foundation of the present political formation was laid during the tenure of the BJP-led government between 2014 to 2019. Despite not getting a clear majority in the 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP came to power being the single largest party. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP had created a sensation announcing unconditional support to the BJP-led government, weakening Shiv Sena’s bargaining power for joining the government with claiming plum portfolios.

In such a situation, the Sena did join the BJP-led government, swallowing its own pride that of a senior partner in the saffron alliance since 1990. Eknath Shinde, who was Shiv Sena’s group leader, was aggressive over aligning with BJP. A sizable number of Sena MLAs too echoed his feelings, leaving the party leadership a little for maneuvering. The leadership kept this in mind and made every effort to maintain its distinct identity. Even though the Sena was part of the government, Party’s executive chief Uddhav Thackeray never lost opportunities to take a different stand.

Sena opposed BJP decisions

This was evident during the farmers’ agitation, instances of natural calamities, and agrarian crisis including the farmer suicides in distress. The Sena was aggressive in registering its disagreement over the proposal to elect the post of Sarpanch directly from people.

Belligerent posture by the Sena was visible on many issues. While negotiating the seat-sharing pact with the BJP before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Sena got its crucial demands approved including sharing the post of Chief Minister for two and half years. But the refusal by BJP led to a parting of ways, and in November 2019, Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant resigned as union minister ending the alliance formally.

Earlier, during the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections in 2017, the BJP launched a frontal attack on Sena. Even though the Sena succeeded in retaining power, the rift widened, beyond reconciliation. After the 2019 elections to the state assembly, the Sena camp alleged that the BJP made every attempt to weaken Shiv Sena by fielded rebel candidates, funding them to ensure the defeat of its candidates. 

Assessment of the present dispensation

There is a lot to assess when the MVA is completing two years in office. A crucial point is that the political bitterness between Shiv Sena and BJP has increased manifold leaving little or no scope for a rapprochement in the near future.

The job of the Opposition is to convince people about the shortcomings of the government to increase their base. But in the case of Maharashtra, it’s not happening even as BJP is trying its best to take advantage of the controversies. Every trick from the book of political strategy has been used by BJP to confuse the cadres of Shiv Sena, such as the one on the issue of Hindutva. But Thackeray has always made it clear that his party’s Hindutva ideology differs from that of the BJP. Also, the issue of joining hands with the Congress and NCP, which was constantly opposed by the late Balasaheb Thackeray, has failed to make an adverse impact on the Sena cadre. People seem to have accepted the government’s stand that it couldn’t do much on the development side due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  

The ruling side has so far been successful in convincing people that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, with his RSS and BJP background, has been highly non-cooperative. The state government’s decision against the revival of the statutory development boards was a tactical one to deprive the governor of using his prerogative for allocation of funds for the development works. Things worsened with the governor’s decision to withhold the MVA government’s recommendations to nominate 12 names to the state council.

It was presumed that the BJP received a shot in the arm when its candidate won the Pandharpur assembly by-election. But the general debate was not about the BJP’s win, instead, it was about the wrong choice of candidate by MVA. Recently, a BJP candidate lost miserably in the Deglur-Biloli assembly by-election.

Thackeray keeping himself aloof

The high voltage drama involving ex-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and former Mumbai CP Parambir Singh over the alleged Rs 100 Cr collection target from the restaurant and bar owners has certainly put the MVA government on a sticky wicket. But CM Thackeray has refrained from reacting openly barring one occasion when he said whether Sachin Waze was Osama Bin Laden. His silence over allegations against his party leaders such as minister Anil Parab, MLA Pratap Saranaik, MP Bhavana Gawli, ex-MP AnandraoAdsul, and MLA Ravindra Vaikar is noticeable.

Despite several controversies and allegations of scandals Thackeray has maintained cool. The issue of OBC reservation in local bodies could have come as a major embarrassment but it failed to cut much ice in recently held by-polls. The BJP did its best to exploit the issue but results say otherwise.

Apart from others, the issue of the Maratha reservation has been the most contentious one. After the state lost its case before the Supreme Court, it was presumed that BJP’s Rajya Sabha members Chhatrapati UdayanRaje and SambhajiRaje were going to lead a state-wide agitation to embarrass the MVA government. But it did not happen as UdayanRaje remained conspicuous by his stoic silence, SambhajiRaje decided to mobilize Maratha youths under his banner. Here, BJP lost a major opportunity to turn the tables against the government and MVA leaders in general and CM Uddhav Thackeray, in particular, heaved a sigh of relief.