Mumbai, September 23
Time was when Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray ruled over the far-right party with an iron hand, picking and choosing its office-bearers right up to the municipal ward level. And when it began flexing its political muscle the 'senapati' (army general), as he was called, decided who would be fielded in polls on a Shiv Sena ticket.
Rebellion was unheard of and those who refused to toe Thackeray's line paid dearly for it. Most ‘Shiv Sainiks’, particularly those at the senior level, trembled at the prospects of meeting the fate of Shridhar Khopkar. A corporator in the Thane municipal corporation, he was suspected to have voted against the Shiv Sena's candidate in the 1989 mayoral elections. Within days, he was chopped to death in broad daylight on a street.
Senior Shiv Sena leader Chhagan Bhujbal who rebelled against the party in the 1990s lived in mortal fear for several years afterward. He narrowly missed being killed when a mob of Shiv Sainiks trashed his ministerial bungalow in 1994.
Even till the 2004 assembly elections, the aging Thackeray managed to maintain his stranglehold on the party. Murmurs of rebellion that year were muted. Things changed shortly after the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine rode to power in Maharashtra. After Narayan Rane broke away from the Shiv Sena to join the Congress party, it was the Thackeray family's turn to run scared. Rane, it is said, openly boasted before his supporters he would send Uddhav Thackeray, Bal’s son and heir to jail, within days of taking over as chief minister.
It is no secret within the Shiv Sena that Uddhav made a deal with the Congress party to ensure the election of Pratibha Patil as president of India. In return, the Congress reportedly decided to go slow on appointing Rane as Maharashtra CM.
It finally took Raj Thackeray's revolt two years ago to show that the Shiv Sena was just a paper tiger. Just how much contempt a disappointed Shiv Sainik can show became evident when three busloads of party workers shouted slogans outside Bal’s residence on Sunday. They later went on to attack the residence of senior party leader Manohar Joshi.
Now even Shiv Sena leaders in civic bodies across the state are revolting to file their nominations as independent candidates. Pradeep Jaiswal, a former Lok Sabha member from Aurangabad, quit the Shiv Sena accusing Uddhav’s associate, Milind Narvekar, of "selling" tickets.
And, unlike his father, Uddhav is seen bargaining with the rebels. The younger Thackeray who was supposed to hit the campaign trail on Tuesday is busy fire fighting. One rebel was offered the post of chairman in the Brihanmumbai (Bombay) Municipal Corporation. Another was offered the post of mayor of Mumbai when the post falls vacant in October. Both bluntly told reporters that Uddhav has offered them sops to stay put in the party.
However, Uddhav's close lieutenants say it is part of the “makeup” of the Shiv Sena. "The party's culture has now changed under Uddhav who has tried to make the Shiv Sena more sophisticated. I hope the Shiv Sainiks won’t do anything that would hurt Bal," said party spokeswoman Neelam Gorhe.
