That there was no ideological cohesion within the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was quite obvious from the beginning. Despite cobbling together the name ‘INDIA’, which in itself sounds so incoherent when elaborated, it remained as short-lived as the pre and post-election euphoria.
Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and the DMK have expressed reservations against the Congress’ one-point agenda to disrupt the parliament in the name of Adani.
This is for the third time that parliament has been disrupted from the beginning just because something was reported in a foreign country about Adani. It cannot be a mere coincidence that such reports/ indictments come just ahead of a parliament session in India.
However, the greater challenge, which nevertheless had to come up one day, is in Maharashtra, where Samajwadi Party has walked out of the MVA alliance.
It always sounded unusual that how Uddhav Bal Thackerey led Shiv Sena, the National Conference and the Samajwadi Party shared the dais.
Since these parties were based out of three different states/ union territory, there was not any problem. Moreover, they had to fight and defeat the “common enemy”, the BJP and Narendra Modi, which though did not happen.
Despite having broken off from the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena-UB remains a hardcore Hindutva party. Its founder Bal Thackereay is a known Hindutva icon.
When Babri Masjid was demolished and it was alleged that some Shiv Sainiks were responsible for it, he famously remarked, “if that is true, I will only be proud of them”.
Udhav led Shiv Sena had aligned with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar after he (Udhav) broke alliance with the BJP over the Chief Ministerial issue. The alliance was and still is an unnatural one.
Since the Samajwadi Party was part of the Congress-NCP alliance, it also joined the multi-party Maharashtra Vikas Agadi (MVA) for the parliament and assembly elections.
The Shiv Sena maintained a moderate and secular approach to all issues. It even ignored Rahul Gandhi’s fierce criticism of Veer Savarkar, whom he would accuse of having tendered an apology to the British, to come out of the jail.
Facing severe drubbing in the assembly elections and having lost most of its ground to the rival Shinde led Shiv Sena, Udhav led Sena appears to be trying to go back to its roots in the ultra-right ideology.
The party published an advertisement on December 6, to celebrate and glorify the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992 with a quote from its founder Bal Thackerey that he was proud of those who did it. This was apparently done to retrieve the lost ground and remind its “lost” cadres that it still sticks to its “core ideology”.
The Samajwadi Party took strong exception and offence to this advertisement. Its Maharashtra president and a prominent Mumbai Muslim leader Abu Azmi announced snapping of ties with the MVA on the matter.
The issue may not stop at the SP’s exit in Maharashtra from the MVA. Eventually, the Shiv Sena-UB may opt out not only from the MVA but also the INDIA bloc purely for ideological reasons. Its ideology does not go along with the Congress either.
Rahul Gandhi has adopted a fiercely “secular” and anti-Hindutva approach. He has often been critical of Veer Savarkar along with the BJP and the RSS. Both the BJP and the Shiv Sena-UB consider Savarkar as the ideological founder of Hindutva. It will be quite difficult for the Shiv Sena-UB to ignore such fierce criticism of Savarkar by Gandhi, which at times is derogatory also.
The impact of the Maharashtra development may be felt in Uttar Pradesh also. It will be difficult for the Samajwadi Party to explain its alliance with the Congress in UP while it (the Congress) has an alliance with the Shiv Sena-UB, a party that justifies and glorifies the demolition of Babri mosque, in Maharashtra.
Eventually, the Congress may also have to part with the Shiv Sena-UB. It is a matter of time only. Rather it may happen sooner than later as the Congress wants to make a comeback in Delhi, where elections are due in February. Delhi has a significant number of Muslim voters, the Congress is eyeing. It has made a prominent Muslim leader, Qazi Nizamuddin, from Uttrakhand as the party’s in-charge for Delhi.
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