Once upon a time, there was a ‘Hindutva Party’ known as Shiv Sena. Shiv Sena, the name itself depicts the army of one of the biggest Hindutva symbol, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. However, this name used to carry different meanings for different people. Shiv Sena has was formed over half a century ago and since then it has undergone a massive transformation but at the cost of its founding principle and ethos. In this article, we would like to cover the saga of the transformation of Shiv Sena, from a hardcore Hindutva party to an Extremely Left leaned Pseudo Secular Party.
Balasaheb Thackeray was the founder of Shiv Sena, an extreme right leaned Pro-Hindutva outfit, which initially formed in 1966 to raise the voice of the ‘Marathi Manus’, who were facing challenges from the ‘Outsiders’ or I would say, ‘Non-Marathi’ people at that point of time. Balasaheb used to give a stern reply to every insult of the locals via his cartoons. He had a clear vision that Shiv Sena will never act as a political outfit, it will rather act as an organization which will work towards the welfare of ‘Marathi Manus’ and Hindus in particular.
It is on record that Balasaheb Thackeray used to believe in ‘thokshahi‘ instead of ‘lokshahi‘. He was a great admirer of the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, and he was among the very few political leaders who supported Indira Gandhi’s decision of imposing Emergency in India.
Shiv Sena rose to the prominence past the demolition of Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, which was constructed over the reigns of Ram Janmbhoomi. It was the Balasaheb Thackeray who came forward and roared that “If Shiv Sainiks brought the structure down, I am proud of them.”
He was the one who gave the famous slogan, “Garv Se Kaho Hum Hindu Hai.” He used to call Muslims as “hirve saap” or snakes with green color. Right-Wing endorsed his larger than life image of ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’, and that image remained intact till his death, where his death was considered as a big jolt for the Hindutva.
Balasaheb was immensely popular across the India, and at the same time, he was considered as a highly controversial figure of Indian Politics. He was so popular, that he was considered as a Sole champion of the Hindutva cause. Even the BJP, which was the only Right wing party, which got the opportunity to rule the Nation couple of times, couldn’t mustered the courage to speak about the hardcore Hindutva issues in public, that’s where the Shiv Sena used to score really high.
Balasaheb Thackeray died on 17th November 2012, and this day was considered as a watershed moment for the Shiv Sena, as it was a changed house since then. It is really unfortunate that the Shiv Sena, which was considered a far right-leaning Political party at that time, has become a darling of pseudo-Secular, Liberals and Islamists alike.
Shiv Sena has parted the way from its long time ally BJP in 2019, once they sensed the opportunity the someone from the Thackeray clan can become a Chief Minister of Maharashtra. To keep the BJP out of the equation and to usurp the power, Shiv Sena did something, which was unthinkable a few years back. They sealed an alliance with their ideological opponents NCP and Congress, and since then they are harboring every possible tactic to remain in good books of Liberals, Seculars, and even Anti-Indian elements.
Though the transformation was started post-2012, However, it was quite visible during Maharashtra Assembly campaigning, Uddhav Thackeray called PM Modi ‘Afzal Khan’ and called BJP campaigning machinery an ‘Army of Afzal Khan’. Afzal Khan was a brutal Islamic General of Adil Shahi, who is infamous for killing millions of Hindus.
Since then Shiv Sena has been on a downhill journey, and it is shedding its Hindutva image, and getting more aligned towards the left paradigm.
When BJP was trying to form a government in Maharashtra last year, a Shiv Sena MLA said, “If anyone tries to break away any Shiv Sena MLA, then I will smash their head. I will also break their leg.” Yet, what was unusual was the name of the MLA was Abdul Sattar , which speaks a lot about the changed character of the party.
Shiv Sena, which once ran a vociferous campaign against South Indian and Biharis, and tried their best to kick them out from Maharashtra with the absolute usage of violence and power, rejected the Center’s idea of NRC and NPR implementation in Maharahstra.
Who can forget that it was Shiv Sena, which insulted Jain religion by selling Meat outside Jain temples during the occasion of Paryushan.
Who can forget the picture of Uddhav Thackeray with Anti National Hardik Patel? Shiv Sena supported Hardik Patel, just out of their hatred against PM Modi, as there was no other such reason to snub their Nationalistic approach.
Even the last year’s issue of Aarey forest for building the metro shed. Shiv Sena toed the lone of extreme left-liberals and joined their movement, recently they have canceled the allotment of land for Mumbai Metro, which will push back the deadline by a couple of years and may escalate the cost by several thousands of Crores.
Shiv Sena has shown their true face past the Palghar lynching and Sushant Singh Rajput murder case. They are trying their best to dump both the cases and protect the accused at any cost.
If that was not enough, Uddhav Thackeray did something unexpected on Dusshera Rally. Uddhav Thackeray while speaking at his party the Shiv Sena’s annual Dussehra rally attacked not only PM Modi, BJP and RSS, he went one step further and attack the very Hindutva which is allegedly the foundation of their own Party.
He attacked the Maharashtra Governor, he said that ‘we are being asked about Hindutva. That why are we not re-opening temples in the state. They say my Hindutva is different from that of Balasaheb Thackeray. Your Hindutva is about clanging bells and utensils, our Hindutva is not like that.”
He mocked the RSS by making an absurd comment on RSS Chief, he said that ” the RSS chief said Hindutva has been narrowed down to only observing puja rituals. Those who wear black caps like him should understand this if they have brains.”
Uddhav Thackeray used this opportunity to shame the Hindutva by making a jibe over BJP, he made a statement that “BJP’s Hindutva is confined only to Gaumutra and Cow Dung. He further went on to say that BJP spews the same gaumutra and cow dung on others. Attacking further he said that it’s you and your clothes who reek smell of Gaumutra and Dung. What am I supposed to do?”
These comments didn’t go down well with most of the Hindus. Any self-respecting Hindu can never disrespect the holy Gomata, but it seems Uddhav Thackeray has forgotten his roots, to score some brownie points, he insulted Hindus and Hindu Dharma for some god knows ‘what’ benefits.
Finally, the masks have now fallen off and it has been proved that Shiv Sena was never a party it was projecting all this while. It was only making fool of Hindus and simply using Hindutva to garner votes. The Thackeray family and the Party, have shown their true colors after joining hands with NCP and Congress. They are speaking the language of the far left, to demean Hindus and Hindutva. It is the right time, that Hindus should understand these tactics and started rejecting this party, which is nothing but a poodle of Congress and Leftist cabal.
