Vicious words at heart of war within Shiv Sena

The political fire in Maharashtra has been fuelled by some acerbic statements from the warring factions of the right-wing Hindu ultra-nationalist party

Ever since Shiv Sena’s rebel group, led by Eknath Shinde, moved to Surat, and went incommunicado, the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance—and Shiv Sena as a party—has been on shaky ground. As much as the continued tussle has been about “real Hindutva” and rebellion, several remarks from the party leaders, including from the breakaway faction, have made matters worse. With each savage statement made by either camp, the political crisis intensifies. Here is a look at some of the statements that have provoked an equally scathing, immediate retort.

When speculations rose about Eknath Shinde and supporters joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shinde said on June 22, “We have not left Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, and will not leave it. We have been following Balasaheb’s Hindutva and will carry it further.”

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The same day, in a tweet calling the MVA alliance “unnatural”, Shinde said, “It is necessary to quit the unnatural alliance for the sake of Shiv Sainiks and the Shiv Sena. It is important to take a decision in the interest of the state.”

As Shinde’s camp in Guwahati swelled, leaving Thackeray’s Shiv Sena with the support of just 10-15 MLAs, party spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, “Let them go…some MPs, MLAs and corporations going out does not mean that the party is broken…let me tell you around 18-20 of the MLAs in Guwahati are in touch with us.”

This ensued a war of words with Thackeray’s MLAs calling Shinde’s camp “traitors” and Shinde naming his group ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb’.

“When the rebels return, it will be a test of their loyalty towards Balasaheb Thackeray and the Shiv Sena,” Raut told reporters. He later said that Shiv Sena was ready to walk out of the MVA alliance if the rebels came back to Mumbai.

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To drive that point home Maharashtra chief minister, and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray moved out of CM’s official residence ‘Varsha’, and said: “Despite the rebellions that the party has faced earlier, it came to power twice. I may have left 'Varsha', the chief minister's official residence, but not my determination.”

In an emotional address on June 24, Thackeray said, “You can take away the flowers, the fruit and the stems of trees, but you can’t destroy the roots, and dried leaves will fall automatically,” he said. “Those who have left are trying to break the party. Why should I feel bad about those who have left?”

Thackeray, attacking rebels, dared them to win the elections “without using the name of Shiv Sena or the Thackerays.”

On June 25, reports surfaced claiming that Shinde was planning to name his faction ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb’, a move which greatly displeased Thackeray’s, Shiv Sena. In response, he said, as quoted by Sanjay Raut, “Those who want to get votes should get in their father’s name, not in the name of Shiv Sena’s father Balasaheb Thackeray.”

The same day, Shinde took to Twitter to say that he was “fighting for the Shiv Sainiks.”

Uddhav’s son Aaditya, too, joined the war of words. “It's good that the rebels left. There is no room for traitors in the party,” he said in an address on June 26. “The ambitions of these people are monstrous. Contest elections again, we will ensure you are defeated.”

Perhaps the most dramatic of statements came from Sanjay Raut, who after being summoned by the ED on June 27, dubbed it a “conspiracy” and said: “We all are Shiv Sainiks of Balasaheb. This is a conspiracy. Even if I am beheaded, I will not take the Guwahati route.”

Addressing a rally of Shiv Sena workers June 26, he announced, “When they step out of Assam, they won’t be alive at heart. They know what can happen in the fire that has been lit here now. The dead bodies of all these 40 MLAs will come to Mumbai and we will directly send them to the mortuary.”

He went on to say, “There is a temple in Guwahati where buffaloes are sacrificed, these 40 buffaloes have gone there to be sacrificed."

Raut later defended his statement and said, “I will repeat it—those who stay in a party for 40 years and then run away, their souls are dead, they do not have anything left in them.”