Headlines
BJP feels the pinch as Shiv Sena sharpens attack (News Analysis)
By
Quaid NajmiMumbai, Feb 20
As the
second alliance government of the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, formed in
Maharashtra after a brief period of bickering between the partners of 25
years, completes 75 days in power Friday, it is clear that the Shiv
Sena has sharpened its attack on the BJP.
The short journey since
Dec 5 has already proven to be too long, and in large measure, quite
irritable for senior partner BJP, thanks to the unending supply of Shiv
Sena's poisoned darts mercilessly fired through its party mouthpiece -
Saamana and Dopahar Ka Saamana - in Marathi and Hindi respectively.
Since
the days of the founder-patriarch of the Shiv Sena, the late Bal
Thackeray, all political parties dreaded his barbs - both verbal and
through the edit columns of the two dailies.
The trend continues
unabated, but seems to hurt its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party
now more than ever before almost as if Saamana has donned the role of
'the main opposition' in Maharashtra.
In recent times, Shiv Sena,
through Saamana, has been at the forefront of criticizing senior BJP
leaders, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah,
certain cabinet ministers, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and select
team members, as well as the BJP brand of politics.
The party did
not shy away from commenting on Modi's controversial monogrammed suit
which is now up for auction, the centre's economic policies, taking
foreign VVIPs to Gujarat in a bid to overshadow Maharashtra or even the
BJP's planned adventure in the ongoing Bihar political crisis.
The
latest dart virtually compelled Union Minister of State for Minority
Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to clarify in Mumbai recently that the BJP
was "keeping off" the affairs in Bihar and would wait for the elections
to secure the peoples' mandate.
The story is the same in
Maharashtra where it bitterly criticized plans to carve out a separate
Vidarbha state - the BJP's declared agenda in pursuance of its small
states policy, an alleged move to sever Mumbai and reducing its economic
importance and the latest on crime situation following the brutal
attack on senior Communist leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur this week.
The last one also hit the bull's eye as Fadnavis happens to wield the critical home portfolio.
A
state BJP leader, requesting anonymity, conceded that the Shiv Sena
barbs through its mouthpieces "hurt badly", but there was little it
could do, as other larger issues like freedom of expression and media
were involved.
"Everybody has a right to air grievances, but in
appropriate forums. At various levels, we have requested the Shiv Sena
leadership to take us into confidence before going public with its
grievances," the BJP leader said.
In recent weeks, however, some
BJP leaders have also hit back at the Shiv Sena in their individual
capacity, much to the latter's consternation and the glee of the
left-over opposition parties.
For instance, after the Sena's
bitter criticism of Modi recently over the debacle in the Delhi
elections, a couple of senior BJP leaders disgustedly asked its partner
to "first quit government before criticizing" the prime minister.
The
Shiv Sena's proposal to revive Mumbai's legendary night-life and its
24x7 entertainment, put forth by youth leader Aditya Thackeray,
attracted BJP opposition with advice to include even vada-paav and
paav-bhaji vendors in the proposition.
BJP state spokesperson
Madhav Bhandari termed 'Saamana' as "behaving like a self-appointed
Leader of Opposition", and said its displeasure has been expressed to
the Shiv Sena in private and public.
"We are clear this
(alliance) is an 'adjustment' only to run the government, nothing
else... In the past 15 years or so, views were aired through its
in-house media, it continues even now... It appears to be a planned
strategy on their part," Bhandari told IANS.
Ostensibly
attempting to provide an alternative platform to Shiv Sena to air its
views and grievances, the BJP has set up a 'Co-ordination Committee'
between the two parties - something that existed during the previous
Congress-Nationalist Congress Party regimes.
But the BJP's
honourable intention has not escaped the stick even on this count as
ally Republican Party of India chief Ramdas Athawale vociferously
demanded that all the other smaller parties in the 'Grand Alliance' must
be included in the Co-ordination Committee.
"The BJP must not
take its allies for granted in this manner... They must remember Delhi
example... The masses have other options available now... The smaller
allies should not be dismisses casually," RPI spokesperson Mayur Borkar
commented on the frustrations experienced by the party.
Now, watch out for the next edition of the Saamana and Dopahar Ka Saamana.
(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at [email protected])