MUMBAI: Major political parties in Maharashtra on Thursday joined the Sena-versus-Sena duel, a day after both Sena factions – one led by Uddhav Thackeray and another by CM Eknath Shinde – held Dussehra rallies where they railed against each other, claiming to have put up a better show than the other. The state Congress said Shinde “harangued” for 90 minutes in his Dussehra address while Uddhav spoke for 37 minutes. The party gave full marks to its ally, saying Uddhav was spontaneous in his Shivaji Park speech in Dadar whereas Shinde’s speech appeared “scripted by the BJP.”
The BJP defended Shinde calling it the “real Shiv Sena,” saying that for the BJP, the dispute over Sena leadership was over. Interesting turnout figures came out from the local police report. It said the Uddhav rally drew between 60,000 and 75,000 people. However, more than a lakh people attended Shinde’s rally at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). The capacity of the BKC ground is more than at Shivaji Park.
It was for the first time that a non-Thackeray pulled such an impressive crowd in Mumbai.
In his speech, Uddhav tried to focus on three major points: his faction left the BJP, but not the Hindutva, the BJP was to blame for inflations and the rise in unemployment and third, the Shinde camp was nothing but a deception to con the Shiv Sainiks and the people.
Uddhav also tried to draw the attention of the Muslim voters by raising the Bilkis Bano case where rapists were reportedly felicitated by BJP supporters in Gujarat. On the other hand, CM Shinde sought to outmanoeuvre Uddhav by inviting Thackeray’s relatives to his rally in an attempt to portray his leadership of the party.
Shinde continued to speak for almost 90 minutes and stopped at 10pm – the deadline given by the Supreme Court for night programmes and speeches. He tried to convince the crowd that they had
taken the right decision by revolting against Uddhav to protect Balasaheb Thackeray’s Hindutva ideology. He said Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya are the heirs to Balasaheb Thackeray’s property, but they were not the ideological successor of Balasaheb. Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the huge crowd at Shinde’s rally “cleared the doubts” about the real Shiv Sena.
“Eknath Shinde is the real heir of Balasaheb Thackeray’s Hindutva legacy. That’s why such a larger number of people flocked to his rally. The dispute involving the Shiv Sena is over for us. Shinde’s faction is the real Sena now,” Fadnavis said. At both rallies, Balasaheb was the centre point of speeches. However, Shinde also praised RSS and BJP for supporting him.
Shinde’s long winding speech, apparently, became monotonous to the gathered crowd as people were seen leaving the rally before the CM could conclude his speech. Two MLAs too left the rally early. Many Sena supporters used to the fiery and extempore speeches of the Thackerays did not like Shinde reading out his speech.In a way, people said, Shinde was successful in getting the big crowd, but he was unable to connect with the people. Uddhav’s speech was crisp and pulled no punches in its rhetoric. Shiv Sena MLC Bhaskar Jadhav said the crowd at Shinde’s rally might be a little more, but “all know that it was a paid crowd”.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole echoed the same charge. “Shinde repeatedly praised the BJP and RSS, which shows that he is nothing but a BJP puppet,” said Patole. “The energetic crowd at Shivaji Park is a morale booster for Uddhav Thackeray ahead of BMC elections. The BJP tried to make Thackeray minus Sena, but by playing an emotional card, Uddhav may bounce back,” said senior analyst Sachin Parab.
Dussehra Rally Face-off
The 90-minute speech of CM Eknath Shinde read out by him was ‘monotonous’ and many people were seen leaving the ground before he could conclude. However, a police report said the turnout at his rally was nearly one lakh, much more than what Uddhav’s rally could draw
Uddhav Thackeray spoke for 37 minutes and his speech was punctuated with sarcasm that rejected all claims by Shinde for being the real successor of Balasaheb Thackeray’s legacy. His speech was crisp and carried more impact, observers said.