As Uddhav Thackeray completes a year in office, the reluctant politician seems to have mastered some rules of the game
Nobody had any expectations of Uddhav Thackeray. Not even as a descendant of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, who always had a wish of one of his own becoming the Chief Minister. But Balasaheb had probably not bargained for the circumstances under which Uddhav became one. Or imagined him to stand out with quietude and resolve in a hostile environment of competitive politics. For years after tamely acquiescing to its bigger partner, the BJP, the Shiv Sena stood up to it following its improved performance in the Assembly elections last November and demanded chief ministership on that basis. The BJP, the single largest party, thought it could rustle up the numbers to form its own Government and was surprised when Uddhav snapped ties with it, engineered a coalition with the opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress combine and negotiated the chief ministership. A manoeuvre that was so not expected from a man who was hardly thought capable of the aggression of Thackeray senior. But one year down the line, he is on a steady course, walking with ideologically divergent partners, not overstepping the ego of the Maratha strongman and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who is believed to have been the architect of the alliance based on a shared pursuit of power. Apart from a few creases here and there, Uddhav hasn’t been an embarrassment for the Congress despite his avowed commitment to Hindutva causes and that party’s to its minority plank. The BJP, not quite accustomed to the Sena’s revolt yet, has expectedly been placing hurdles along the way of the coalition government, be it through gubernatorial interference, by thrusting Central probes or generally shaming Uddhav’s lack of administrative experience. As for the last, Uddhav had no time to settle in as the State recorded its first Covid-19 case on March 9, posing a severe challenge to the healthcare system. And before he could get a grip on it, Maharashtra became the State with the highest number of cases across India. Then the exodus of migrant labourers caught him by surprise, a fact played up by the BJP as an example of his ineptitude and lack of foresight. Still, Uddhav did not lose his cool and went in for aggressive containment measures, testing and medical protocols as Asia’s biggest slum, Dharavi, put him on trial. Today, Mumbai is doing better than Delhi in handling the pandemic despite infrastructural weaknesses. Its caseload is going down, it is going for a graded reopening of sectors — unlike other States giving in to populist and commercial pressure — and is the first State in the country to have introduced international-style travel protocols to control the spiral of imported infection. The management of the Dharavi outbreak is a model example of how effective community engagement, awareness and deployment can tame the virus in resource-scarce and congested clusters. As the worst-hit State with a spiralling death count, Maharashtra seems to be finally getting there. And Uddhav, who may be borrowing lessons from the governance heft of the NCP-Congress, must be credited with having the will to deliver without drawing attention to himself. In fact, given his administrative inexperience, he has empowered efficient bureaucrats and shunted out the slackers, clearly emphasising that performance would be the only qualifier of assessment. The best part is he hasn’t failed to call a spade a spade. He publicly admonished the police for indiscriminate use of force during the lockdown and in matters religious has taken an apolitical stand despite his Hindutva moorings. So when Maharashtra Governor B G Koshyari prodded him on opening temples, wondering if he was delaying because of his “secular” partners, Uddhav shot back, asking if Hindutva meant simply opening religious places and as someone who had sworn on the Constitution, was he denying the secularism enshrined in it? Besides, he managed the festival season with reason. By confining the Ganesh Mahotsav to a largely indoor celebration, he avoided a super spreader event. In an editorial in Saamna, he even questioned the utility of all shrines in a pandemic. At the same time, he calibrated his response to Muslims, considering the Sena’s stand on the Babri masjid and the Ram temple. He used the Congress to urge the community not to congregate in mosques and stayed away from fanning the fire on the Tablighi Jamaat. In fact, Uddhav, in his own way is trying to posit his Hindutva as nationalism rather than the BJP kind of communalism so that he can justify his togetherness with the NCP-Congress. And given the Sena’s history of rowdyism, he is trying to split his politics from bogeyism.
Uddhav’s assets so far have been his straightforwardness and realism, which have held him in good stead. His respect for Pawar in keeping the coalition largely frictionless is the other reason for his stability. But he has to watch out against ambitious leaders who have already accused him of setting up a coterie to enable a smooth transition to his son Aaditya. And a jilted BJP with the means won’t give up trying to break him and picking up dissenters. It almost had him on the lynching of sadhus in Palghar, who were mistaken by villagers for thieves and child lifters. Luckily for Uddhav, who was slow on the investigation, some BJP office-bearers were found to be among the lynch mob and spared him the criticism of running over another Hindu cause. Of course, the BJP baited him on the suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, though the CBI ultimately ruled out a conspiracy. But going by the State Government’s demolition drive at an actress’ office or a journalist’s arrest, Uddhav must stop falling prey to the BJP’s design of reactive politics. He certainly could have handled these cases better despite the provocation. If he is to last a full term, he needs equanimity. He doesn’t need to flex muscles.
