Mumbai: Celebrating Shiv Sena’s foundation day Thursday, both Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray sounded the battle cry for Mumbai’s civic body, each returning to the party’s roots—the Marathi manus, son of the soil.
Speaking at the Shanmukhananda auditorium in Sion, Mumbai, Thackeray who heads the Shiv Sena (UBT) indicated once again that he is open to reuniting with his estranged brother Raj Thackeray, for the civic body polls without putting it in as many words. He said he is willing to “do whatever the people of Maharashtra want” to protect the interests of Mumbai, Marathi and Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Shinde, addressing party workers at NSCI Dome in Mumbai’s Worli, hit back saying the Marathi population was compelled to go out of Mumbai because of “those who are only remembering the Marathi manus now.”
“It is because you couldn’t do anything, Mumbai’s Marathi manus were driven out of Mumbai to places like Nalasopara, Badlapur, Vasai, Virar. This is your sin. Over the past 20 years, who ruled Mumbai? Everyone knows,” Shinde said, speaking at the event.
Thackeray at his rally said, “These people don’t want Marathi people to come together, that’s why they are paying frequent visits.” Thackeray was indirectly taunting Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Shinde who have had meetings with Raj Thackeray, who heads the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), ever since talks about the two Thackeray cousins reuniting picked up steam.
“Whether it (the alliance with Raj Thackeray) will happen or not, we will see. You shouldn’t bother about it,” added Uddhav
Thackeray further alleged that the ruling Mahayuti does not want the Shiv Sena (UBT) to come to power in the Mumbai civic body so that it can continue to protect the interests of the Adani Group.
“You don’t have money to give for the Ladki Bahin scheme, for state transport buses, but in Dharavi, stamp duty has been waived for the Adani Group. Where did you get that money from? Everything is free for Adani,” Thackeray said. The Adani Group is redeveloping the Dharavi slum cluster.
“This is not just our fight. In 1960, martyrs shed their blood to ensure we get Mumbai. We will not let that go to waste and let anyone finish the importance of Mumbai,” Thackeray added.
Elections to all local bodies in Maharashtra are expected to be held late this year. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which the undivided Shiv Sena had ruled for 25 years till 2022, will also go to polls. The term of the general body lapsed in March 2022 and fresh elections are yet to be held.
The Shiv Sena split in June 2022.
The battle for the Mumbai civic body is a high-stakes one—for several reasons. The BJP has been aggressively trying to wrest control of the country’s richest municipal corporation from the Thackerays, while the Shinde-led Sena is on a mission to prove itself the real Shiv Sena and show that the Thackeray brand’s supposed appeal in Mumbai is a thing of the past. For the Shiv Sena (UBT), winning Mumbai is key to the immediate survival of his party especially after its debilitating defeat in the state assembly polls.
Hitting back at Uddhav, Shinde said the Shiv Sena (UBT) was looking at Mumbai as a golden goose.
“Their heart is in the coffers of Mumbai. Those who stayed in power (in the Mumbai civic body) for so many years and broke the city’s treasury are now remembering Mumbai…Mumbai will continue to stay with Maharashtra. Nobody can break Mumbai from Maharashtra,” Shinde said.
The BJP is currently in an alliance—Mahayuti—with the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), ruling the Maharashtra government.
Leaders from the BJP, as well as the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, have informally said that while the three parties will decide whether to have an alliance for each local body poll separately depending on the desires of the ground cadre in that region, the Mahayuti is most likely to fight the BMC election together.
On Thursday, Shinde was less than subtle about his ambition of dislodging the Thackerays from the BMC. His party members presented him with a small replica of the BMC headquarters, saying the Mahayuti will rule this edifice post-election.
The Deputy CM, at his event, paid tribute to former CM Manohar Joshi, known to have his fair share of differences with Uddhav. Shinde also felicitated Joshi’s son, Unmesh, during his party’s celebration of Shiv Sena’s foundation day.
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‘Come on, kill me’—Uddhav Thackeray
Galvanising the crowd in front of him, Thackeray Thursday borrowed a dialogue from a 1990 Nana Patekar-starrer film, Prahar. “I am standing here. Come on, kill me,” he urged the BJP and Shinde. “But, when you come, bring an ambulance along since you will come walking, but will have to go back injured.”
Shinde, who delivered his speech at the NSCI dome well after Thackeray had wrapped up his speech, said, “How can we kill someone who is already dead? People of the state have already finished them in the assembly polls.”
The Shiv Sena (UBT) won just 20 of the 288 assembly seats in the Maharashtra assembly election last year, while the Shinde-led Shiv Sena won 57 seats.
“I will share a little math with you,” Shinde told his party workers, elaborating how the undivided Shiv Sena’s strike rate was 22 percent in 2014, 45 percent in 2019, and in 2024, while Shinde’s party contested 80 seats, winning 57, the Shiv Sena (UNT) contested 85, winning just 20.
“This means their strike rate was just 23 percent. They did not get even one-third the votes that our Shiv Sena got,” Shinde said
The Deputy CM said his party will contest the upcoming local body polls as an alliance with Mahayuti partners, but said that the details will be shared at a later stage.
Shinde, however, stayed away from commenting on a possible Raj-Uddhav alliance.
Hindi imposition
Speaking at Shanmukhananda, Thackeray dove into the debate over the Modi government’s proposed three-language policy and the Maharashtra government’s decision to make Hindi a compulsory third language for students in all Marathi- and English-medium schools starting from the first standard.
As per the state’s government resolution, Hindi will be the default choice for the third language unless 20 students or more come together and demand a different third language.
Speaking on the issue, Thackeray said it was a ploy to divide the state’s population.
“They created a divide among Hindus over caste and now they want to divide Marathi vs non-Marathi so that we will fight among us. They want to divert attention from the real news,” Thackeray said.
“They want to impose Hindi, we won’t let it be imposed. We are not against Hindi, but I will not allow compulsory Hindi in primary education,” Thackeray said, asking whether Hindi has been imposed in Gujarat.
His estranged cousin, Raj Thackeray, has also raised strong opposition to making Hindi compulsory for primary schools as a default third language.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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