BackShiv Sena’s Hamletian dilemma
Even though the Shiv Sena joined the state government more than two months ago, its criticism of governments at the centre and state is a regular feature
Premium(Hindustan Times)
Mumbai: In the October Maharashtra assembly polls, Shiv Sena emerged as the second largest party both in terms of seats and vote share, with 63 seats out of total 288 seats and a vote share of 19.3%. However, since then, the party seems to have been caught in a Hamletian dilemma and has not able to decide whether it wants to play the role of an opposition party or a ruling party.
During the first session of the state assembly in November when new legislators took oath, Shiv Sena staked its claim for the post of leader of opposition as the second largest party in the state assembly after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But within one month of sitting in opposition benches, Sena leadership decided to join the government. In the first week of December, its nominees were sworn in as ministers in the state cabinet.
Even though Sena joined the government in the state more than two months ago, editorials criticizing the governments at the centre and state are a regular feature in the party’s mouthpiece Saamana. Besides this, party president Uddhav Thackeray regularly takes swipes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Thackeray even called a press conference to express his joy over BJP’s resounding defeat in the Delhi elections, among others.
The latest in a series of attacks on the government is its stiff opposition to changes the government wants to introduce in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Act, 2012 which the party calls anti-farmer. The Shiv Sena also called a meeting of its district chiefs in Mumbai on 26 February and asked them to go to villages to explain to farmers that the party was firmly behind them, and also make them aware about the dangers the amendment bill poses to them.
Normally, it is the job of the opposition to mobilize anti-government sentiment among the masses, but the Sena seems to have taken the mantle of playing the role of opposition party on itself, while enjoying the perks of power.
We don’t know for sure whether Shiv Sena is genuinely confused or if this is part of its deliberate strategy to distance itself from the government’s unpopular decisions. In either case, it will backfire on Sena even if it ends up hurting BJP too.
As the experience from the 1998-2004 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the second term of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has shown, attempts to occupy the opposition space while still enjoying power does more damage to a party than its opponents.
During Vajpayee’s tenure, the most vociferous opposition to government’s policies used to come from various organizations of Sangh Parivar or organizations related Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological parent.
The BJP frequently faced fire from Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for not doing enough for the Sangh Parivar’s pet project of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Organizations like Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the labour wing of RSS, and Swadeshi Jagran Manch, the economic wing, used to criticize the government every now and then for its economic policies. BMS chief Dattopant Thengdi even went to the extent of calling the Vajpayee government “swatantra Bharat ki sabse nikammi sarkar" or the most useless government of independent India.
This criticism from within the Sangh Parivar resulted in driving away its core voters from the party and as a consequence, the BJP lost the national elections in 2004. The BJP’s vote share dropped from around 24% in 1999 Lok Sabha elections to around 22% in 2004 and it lost 44 seats compared to 1999.
Similarly, during the second tenure of the UPA government in September 2013, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi came out all guns blazing against the government’s ordinance which tried to negate a Supreme Court judgment that said that barred an elected representative from continuing to hold office after conviction even if his or her appeal is pending in a higher court. The Gandhi scion called the ordinance complete nonsense and went on to say that he wished to tear it apart.
Soon after, stories about how the Sonia Gandhi-led super cabinet National Advisory Council (NAC) is opposed to some of UPA government’s schemes or is unhappy with the performance of certain schemes used to be regularly leaked to media, a clear attempt to shield the Congress president from unpopular decisions of the government.
However, such acts led to lowering of the government’s credibility in the eyes of voters, who ultimately punished Congress in the 2014 general election.
So, if the Shiv Sena is thinking that it is insuring itself by criticizing the government, its leadership is living in some imaginary world. In the real world, voters like to see things in black and white; so, either you are in power or you are in opposition and if voters decide to punish BJP-led governments at the centre and state for their incompetence, they will not spare the Shiv Sena either, as the party will be seen as a partner in crime.
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