Shiv Sena must learn to temper its language
It is understandable for the Bharatiya Janata Party's political rivals to rub salt into the wounds of the party after it received a drubbing in the Delhi Assembly election. But when its allies get onto the ridicule bandwagon, it is distasteful. One expects partners to at least in the public domain be seen by the side of their own. They can have their opinions on what caused the defeat, express them at the appropriate forums and demand course correction. That is the essence of a vibrant coalition, and a frank but not malicious display of contrary views on internal platforms such as a meeting of coalition allies, adds to the quotient of trust among the partners. But the Shiv Sena, which is part of the BJP-led Government in Maharashtra and also part of the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, has been behaving in a rather openly hostile fashion after the BJP's defeat in Delhi.
That it should have gone public with its opinion — saying the BJP has been reduced to “dirt” — is bad enough; what makes its conduct worse is that it should have taken the occasion to (yet again) ridicule Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity among the people, saying that the Modi “wave” had given way to the Kejriwal “tsunami”. Of course, this is not the first time that the Shiv Sena, either through its leaders including its chief Uddhav Thackeray or through its media outlets, has taken digs at Mr Modi. They did that when the BJP pulled out of the alliance just before the State election late last year, and continued with the diatribe all through the election campaigning.
It had been expected that, following the reconciliation which led to the Shiv Sena joining the Government in the State, the attacks would stop. That it has not, leads one to believe that the Shiv Sena is still not comfortable in the alliance. If that is indeed the case, it has the freedom to consider options. But it should not assume the role of a strident opposition to the BJP while remaining in a coalition with the party. It appears that the Shiv Sena has yet to come to terms with the fact that it is a junior partner to the BJP in Maharashtra — something it never was until the 2014 State election happened and the Shiv Sena's bluff was called.
Perhaps the Shiv Sena can take a leaf out of the Shiromani Akali Dal's conduct after its candidate lost in a Delhi constituency. The party has refrained from taking on either the Prime Minister or the BJP's senior leadership. One of its candidates, who lost in a constituency in Delhi, did publicly highlight what he considered were reasons for his defeat — including controversial remarks certain BJP lawmakers had recently made — but the language was moderate and the reasoning logically placed. He complimented the senior BJP leadership for supporting him to the hilt during the campaigning. There was no needless acrimony, and certainly no petty jibe directed at senior BJP leaders or at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.