The Congress was curiously absent at the reunion event of the estranged Thackeray cousins — Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray — in Mumbai Saturday despite being invited. The lone national ally of the Uddhav Sena, the Congress seems to be edgy over the development, keeping a close watch.
There are various reasons for the Congress’s decision to avoid rubbing shoulders with Thackerays for now, ranging from the Bihar Assembly polls due in a few months to the upcoming Maharashtra civic body polls including the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, to the hardline Hindutva positions often taken by Raj while looking to stay relevant in state politics.
The Maharashtra Congress leaders believe that the Thackeray cousins’ reunion — spurred by the “Marathi first” and “anti-Hindi imposition” stir — would have a limited impact, confined largely to Mumbai and the BMC elections. The Congress did not want to be seen sharing their space against such a backdrop, but it also cannot afford to rub Uddhav the wrong way.
“It was a half-hearted invitation, our leaders were invited. The NCP went to the event but they were insulted, their leaders were not even called on the dais. Thackerays wanted to take all the credit for the Marathi agitation,” a senior Congress leader said, “It is a good thing that we did not go because the Congress was not part of the anti-Hindi agitation. Despite odd statements, our leaders did not take up the issue very seriously because they were not clear about Delhi (party leadership)’s direction.”
Given that the Congress is a pan-Indian party and is trying hard for its revival in the Hindi heartland, including poll-bound Bihar, the party could not have taken up a belligerent anti-Hindi stand anyway. “Thackerays are eyeing only the BMC elections. And we want to go alone in the BMC polls. We have never allied with anyone for the BMC elections,” said a party leader.
“Thackerays have only orchestrated this to retain power in BMC. The feeling among our MLAs is that we should go alone (in the BMC polls). We cannot cede whatever space we have now. When we ally (with the Uddhav Sena), the minority vote bank shifts to the Sena to defeat the BJP candidates but the Sena vote doesn’t come to us,” another Congress leader said.
“It is a tricky situation. As it is the Congress does not have much support base in Mumbai. We are neither with the Marathi manoos (sons of the soil) nor Gujaratis. Our support base is only the minorities, that goes in some places where the SP and the AIMIM field candidates. We have a little bit of support base among north Indians, which will also go if we are seen with Raj. There is not much vote base left for Congress. We are completely confused,” a party leader said.
A large Congress section appears to be unhappy with the state of affairs in the party. “Nobody is taking any initiative here because for the smallest event you have to take permission from Delhi. The Maharashtra party leadership was not sure whether we should take an anti-Hindi stance or not. So they sort of fell in between. The issue was not Marathi but it was about imposition of Hindi. If Hindi was imposed from Class 1 then Marathi would suffer. That is the logic,” the leader said.
“We also spoke (over the Hindi imposition row), but the MNS and Sena (UBT) took an aggressive position, beating up people and all. They made it very visible because media only loves such stories. The Congress was aloof. One of the problems with the Congress is that Delhi is directing them to hold Jai Hind yatra, Samvidhan Samman sammelan etc, which are all abstract themes where only die-hard Congress people join. There is no active public participation as no person who is not a party member is enthused by these slogans. We should be taking up people’s causes like farm prices, law and order, corruption or even the Marathi language for that matter — we should have been on the streets not necessarily under the leadership of Thackerays,” a party insider said.
The Bihar election has deepened the Congress’s dilemma as it could not appear to be associated with Raj who is known for his strident anti-north Indians and anti-Hindi posturings. “We needed a clear and precise direction on Hindi. We could not join the agitation openly because it sends an anti-Hindi message. It is like that secularism debate, we talk too much of secularism, we are seen as pro-Muslim. So how to subtly convey the message — in that there was no direction from the high command,” a state Congress leader said.
“We can say that Hindi should not be imposed at the cost of Marathi but beating up people is ridiculous. The Congress should take up a stand that we cannot accept all that. What is needed is broad-based consultations. The PCC president and Mumbai Congress chief are both political lightweights, but look at what happened last week — AICC in-charge Ramesh Chennithala called all the top state leaders to Delhi for a meeting, all of them went hoping to meet Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge but they were not there. And the meeting was called on the day the state Assembly session began. You set the agenda on the opening day of the session, hold a press conference, set out your issues — and on that day all our leaders were in Delhi. Chennithala could have come to Mumbai and held the meeting. This is sheer lack of imagination and communication,” a senior party leader said.
The Congress leadership, however, cannot antagonise its ally Uddhav either. The INDIA bloc is already in disarray. And the Congress is keen to keep the MVA intact, albeit not for the BMC elections. So a “logical play” made by the party then was to stay away from Thackerays’ reunion, speak against “Hindi imposition” while remaining silent on the anti-Hindi stir and resultant incidents of violence, and silently hope that Uddhav will remain part of the MVA despite its rifts.