Dharmaveer — a Marathi biopic made on the life and times of Shiv Sena’s strongman from Thane Anand Dighe — that hit the screens on May 13 proved to be a propaganda vehicle for senior Minister Eknath Shinde in the run-up to his rebellion within the Sena and his subsequent elevation as the Chief Minister of a Government supported by the BJP on Thursday. Or so it appears.

In the movie, the character of Shinde, who used to be the close aide of late Dighe, has been played up by the makers to give a larger-than-life image to the Sena leader who is now known across the country as being the rebel Sena Minister who brought down the Uddhav Thackeray Government.

Though this is the third major rebellion within the Sena after that of Chhagan Bhujbal in the early 1990s and that of Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray in 2005-2006...

Shinde’s decision to walk out of the Sena along with nearly 40 MLAs has not only led to the fall of the Sena-led MVA Government but has also caused extensive damage to the organisational structure of the Sena which was founded by late Bal Thackeray way back in 1966.

Ironical it may seem, Uddhav — who had gone to see the premier show of “Dharmaveer” — did not watch the last portion of the movie that showed Dighe’s accident in the movie and his subsequent death while undergoing treatment at Thane’s Singhania hospital.

After Dighe’s death in 2001, the hospital was burnt down. At that time, there was a lot of speculation about the circumstances leading to Dighe’s road accident which eventually resulted in his death. Dighe reportedly died of a heart attack while being treated for his wounds in the mishaps.

Considered a protégé of Dighe, Shinde has come a long way from being an autorickshaw driver to Chief Minister of the State.  Originally from Javali taluka in Satara, Shinde left his education before he made it to college, and he moved to Thane and became an autorickshaw driver to earn a living.

Shinde got associated with the Sena in the seventies. “Shinde got close to Dighe in the late eighties. Sometime around that time Shinde’s two children Dipesh and Shubhada drowned in a village tank. After that, it took a long time for   Shinde to overcome the death of children. Dighe - who met him after the death of children - advised him to work for the party and people. After that, Shinde worked hard in tandem with Dighe,” veteran journalist S Ramakrishnan, who was close to Dighe, said.

“Whatever Shinde is today, full credit goes to late Dighe who promoted him in a big way in the party. Despite the presence of late Bal Thackeray, Dighe was an independent leader of his own right. Dighe’s writ ran in Thane. This helped Shinde in a big way,” Ramakrishnan said.

After working as Sena shakha pramukh of Kisannagar at Wagle Estate at Thane, Shinde was elected as a corporator of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). Before long, Shinde became a local leader. Being close to Dighe helped him grow in politics.

After the death of Dighe in 2001, he filled the vacuum in the party following his mentor. An organisation man, Shinde increased his hold over the party set up in Thane in the coming year. He was elected to the State Assembly for the first time in 2004 .

Shinde’s stature within the Sena increased after the rebellions by Narayan Rane in 2005 and subsequent exit from the Sena of Raj Thackeray, who founded the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (2006). During that time Shinde played a crucial role in keeping the Sena flock together,

Close to late Thackeray, Shinde has all along been considered the “money bag” of the Sena. He would raise funds for the party for running the party set-up as well fighting the elections.

A three-term MLA from Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency of Thane district, Shinde was a number two man in the Sena till recently.

Shinde - who had been nominated as the leader of the second single-largest party after the BJP to form a Government in the State after the 2019 State Assembly polls  but was eventually denied the CM’s post to facilitate Uddhav to become the Chief Minister of the State -- had not taken kindly to his being denied the number one post in the State.

It may be recalled that after the single largest party BJP had then backed out of the Government formation race, Maharashtra  Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had on November 10, 2019 to indicate  its “willingness and ability” to form the next Government in Maharashtra

Shinde’s son Dr Shrikant Shinde, an orthopaedic surgeon, is a two-term MP from the Kalyan seat of the district.

In 2014, when the Sena initially chose not to join the Government, Shinde was briefly the Leader of Opposition. Upon joining the Government, he was given the portfolio of Public Works Department, looking after Public Undertakings and Maharashtra Road Development Corporation. He also held the charge of Public Health and Family Welfare portfolio.

In fact, he was executing the Mumbai-Nagpur super communication highway or Samruddhi Corridor, the dream project of then Chief Minister Fadnavis. He is also overseeing the expansion of Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

Now that he has become the Chief Minister, it remains to be seen as to how will fare in the post and what kind support he receives from the BJP which is in alliance with his breakaway group which is yet to attain a political identity of its own.