Vindictive politics gaining stronghold in Maharashtra

 

    While biding adieu to 2022, I am sure ‘Sahyadri’ must be impassioned with a lot of bitter memories. 2022 experienced antagonism and vindictive politics gaining stronghold; a culture that came in place almost two years ago in Maharashtra. In fact, Maharashtra had never witnessed a bitter environment to this extent ever before. And just before 2022 could end, Uddhav Thackeray’s tirade in front of the state school education minister Deepak Kesarkar in the Legislature was culmination of this vengeance.

    Earlier, Uddhav Thackeray had commented about deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s physical appearance. And then he also hit out at chief minister Eknath Shinde over Shinde’s visit to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters at Reshimbagh. Taking a dig at Shinde’s visit, Thackeray had said, “Shinde must have left the RSS office but RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat must look out for signs of witchcraft, see if any lemons have been thrown around by Shinde. Shinde has a keen eye. We have had a bad experience with him.” This criticism by the former chief minister is a testament to how low the political scenario has stooped in Maharashtra.

The country swears by the liberal political culture of Maharashtra. But the work of tarnishing this liberal culture and sowing seeds of hatred in this political landscape of Maharashtra has been going on systematically since 2014. The seeds of hatred seem to be hybrid and with proper nurturing it is rapidly getting deep-rooted. And hence, now is the time to weed it out. In politics surpassing the opponent in wisdom or resorting to diplomatic tricks is very common. But never has the political scenario in Maharashtra become so vindictive as it has in the last two years. Even during the tenures of Yashwantrao Chavan, Vasantrao Naik, Shankarrao Chavan, Vasantdada Patil, Sharad Pawar, Vilasrao Deshmukh as the chief ministers, Maharashtra saw how tactically the opponents were caught in a dilemma but never had the level stooped so low as it has today.

    During the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, Acharya Atre used to openly criticize Congress leaders. Atre, through his speeches in public meetings and also through his editorials in the daily ‘Maratha’, would criticize and abuse Congress leaders. ‘Chavan, Hire, Desai…. People’s kasai (butchers)’ was one of the catchy headlines of Acharya Atre in the ‘Maratha’. And the same Atre had given a heart-warming speech in the Legislative Assembly when Yashwantrao Chavan was to take charge as the defence minister in Delhi. This was Maharashtra’s tradition of political liberalism. It is sad that this tradition is waning with passage of time.

    In 1977, after the defeat of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections held in wake of the Emergency, the grudges against the then chief minister Shankarrao Chavan gained momentum within the Congress. As expected, Shankarrao Chavan had to face expulsion. Vasantdada Patil and Yashwantrao Mohite were the strong contenders for the post of the chief minister. An election was held within the Congress and Vasantdada won. But this did not lead to any kind of bitterness in the relationship between Vasantdada and Yashwantrao Mohite. Later, during the 1978 Assembly elections, since no party gained a complete majority, an alliance government of the Congress and Indira Congress came to power. While Vasantdada became the chief minister, Nashikrao Tirpude of Indira Congress became the deputy chief minister.

    Under the pretext that Tirpude was constantly criticizing Yashwantrao Chavan, the MLAs supporting Yashwantrao decided to revolt. These MLAs were led by Sharad Pawar. A ploy was hatched that these MLAs will quit the government and form a new government with support from the Janata Party with Sharad Pawar as the chief minister. The moment Vasantdada realised that something like this was being conspired, Vasantdada had confronted Pawar about it. At that time, Pawar had told Vasantdada that he had no intention to leave the cabinet. But immediately the next day, Sharad Pawar left Vasantdada’s cabinet. This blow by Pawar hit Vasantdada really bad. Pawar, who had assured him that he would never leave the cabinet had in fact betrayed Vasantdada and the latter could never forget it. But Vasantdada never publicly expressed his grudge.

    Later, Pawar dissolved his Samajwadi Congress and joined Indira Congress. During the same time, Shankarrao Chavan had got the position of the chief minister once again. Shankarrao Chavan had, at that time, changed the prevailing practice of providing water from the irrigation projects for sugarcane farming thereby curbing the free use of water. Due to this decision, the cooperative sugar mill owners from the state united against Shankarrao under the leadership of Vasantdada. At that time, Vasantdada had resigned from the post of the Governor of Rajasthan and he stood as an opponent in front of Shankarrao. While demanding the removal of Shankarrao, Vasantdada never used uncultured language. In fact, without using words like ‘khanjeer (dagger)’, Vasantdada had demanded that Shankarrao be replaced by Pawar as new the chief minister.

Seeing Uddhav Thackeray vent out in front of Deepak Kesarkar, I was reminded of the patience that Vasantdada must have shown in those days. While expressing his heartbreak in front of Kesarkar, Uddhavrao had conveniently forgotten how he had betrayed Fadnavis and became the chief minister. Uddhavrao’s irritation is justified especially when he had to let go off his position as the chief minister. But he failed to realize how and where to express it. Similarly, after chief minister Eknath Shinde visited Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters, Uddhav Thackeray’s reaction shows his narrowmindedness. It is sad that Uddhav Thackeray has still not come to terms and overcome the grief of losing chief ministership. One has to show the greatness of mind while accepting setbacks in politics. And Uddhavrao fails to possess this magnanimity. We often see that the child who brings his bat to play takes it back home the moment he is bowled out. When we see Uddhav Thackeray and his narrowminded approach, we are reminded of this child-like behaviour.

    Since 2014, the use of such disrespectful language to criticize political opponents has become a trend. When Devendra Fadnavis became the chief minister in 2014, his opponents began criticizing him and his family in atrocious and foul language. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s life was being criticized in a similar demeaning manner. But neither Prime Minister Modi nor Devendra Fadnavis ever responded to these remarks. They calmly took all these criticisms. While we enter the new year, I sincerely pray at the august feet of Goddess Tulja Bhawani and Lord Pandurang that Maharashtra once again gets its political tolerance back.

(Article Pre-Published in Times of India –02 Jan. 2023)

Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson