New Delhi: The BJP’s surprise decision to support Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde as the next chief minister of Maharashtra underscores its objective of bringing regional sentiments traditionally identified with that of its former ally to the ‘Hindutva’ band, including The eyes of the party are fixed firmly on the bigger fight. 2024 Lok Sabha elections and state elections in the same year.
Once a junior ally of the Shiv Sena, which advocated a more bold form of ‘Hindutva’, now the BJP virtually owns it and hopes Shinde will help the BJP, in its high position, to identify with regional sentiments. , which the army has always been the champion.
The strategic move will also add to the pressure of the BJP by depriving the Uddhav Thackeray-led party of its pet peeves of Hindutva and caste sub-nationalism. BJP insiders said that Shiv Sainiks were drawn towards the Shinde faction and that one of them being at the top post could also add strength.
Along with the Marathas, the state’s most dominant caste, considered more sympathetic to parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena, Shinde will also help the BJP woo the community from which he belongs.
As the fight between the two Shiv Sena factions intensifies in the weeks and months before the Election Commission, the rise of Shinde, a grassroots Maratha politician who has always identified with his party’s planks of Hindutva and ethnic sub-nationalism It can hurt your chances. Uddhav Thackeray.
Maharashtra political scientist Sanjay Patil said, “It is a very strategic move. It appears to be a very grand strategy plan, aimed at weakening the Shiv Sena and getting it out of Thackeray’s hands.” Studied party for Ph.D.
“By appointing Shiv Sena slogans, its people and a Maratha CM, the BJP is posing the toughest challenge to the Thackeray brand in the history of Maharashtra. Attempts are being made to separate Thackeray from the Shiv Sena, but it will not be easy because Shiv Sena and Thackeray were always alike in the imagination of the Marathi people.”
He said, “Since the ideology of the army was largely based on two planks: Dharma (Hindutva) and Kshetra (Marathi Manoos), the effort now is to submerge everything in the larger plank of Hindutva and should be bigger than nationalism,” he said. They said.
There is also a view that the BJP may have tried to hedge its bets as the matter is still technically in court, and it is an open conjecture as to how the fight between the two Shiv Sena factions will play out politically as Thackeray Brands cannot be. written off.
However, the BJP’s move has also come with its share of headaches. Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is seen as the face of the party in the state and a key leader behind the revolt in the Shiv Sena, was apparently unhappy with Shinde’s choice of leadership.
He announced that he would not be part of the new cabinet, but pressured top officials to join. Political observers also pointed out that Shinde, whose faction has about 50 of the BJP’s 106 MLAs (including independents) heading the government, could be at a loss.
The political benefits of a smaller party running the government with the support of the leaders of the rebel groups or a larger party have been mixed. S Gurumurthy, an RSS sympathizer and editor of the Tamil political weekly Tughlaq, hailed the BJP’s move to elect Shinde as chief minister as “strategically brilliant and politically big-hearted”.
He said the political pundits were shocked to see the BJP’s conspiracy behind the rebellion in Shiv Sena.