The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance has captured BMC. With this defeat, the long-standing dominance of the Thackeray family in Mumbai also ended. Uddhav-Raj duo and Marathi Manush politics also did not work.
BMC Election Results: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance has taken over India’s richest civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). With this, not only did the dominance of the Thackeray family end in Mumbai, their last fort also collapsed. Even the “Brahmastra” of reuniting cousins Uddhav and Raj proved unsuccessful in keeping the Thackeray family in control of the BMC.
It was a ‘do or die’ fight for Uddhav Thackeray.
BMC election was in a way a ‘do or die’ election battle for Uddhav Thackeray. After losing his government, party and election symbol, control of BMC was very important for Uddhav. Uddhav’s Shiv Sena (UBT) may have tried to give a tough fight to the BJP, but in the end it all fell short.
The ‘Marathi Manush’ image became unnecessary without any reason.
On the other hand, this time Raj Thackeray joined hands with brother Uddhav and once again set out to win the fort of Mumbai on the basis of ‘Marathi Manush’ politics. But Raj Thackeray’s party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which has not been able to make any significant electoral impact in Maharashtra since its formation, has once again failed. Even Thackeray Brothers on many occasions tried to shine their politics by giving more importance to Marathi than Hindutva. The results show that people did not like Raj Thackeray’s excessive Marathi politics and they rejected it outright.
..So where will Thackeray Brothers go now?
After losing BMC, the biggest question is whether ‘Thackeray Brothers’ will maintain their alliance for future elections in the state? Or will Uddhav once again adopt his own path? After the 2019 assembly elections, Uddhav Thackeray broke ties with his oldest and most trusted ally BJP and joined hands with Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state. However, his government lasted only for two and a half years. Due to rebellion in the party by Eknath Shinde, Uddhav had to lose his government, party and even his bow and arrow.
Uddhav Thackeray fell apart after leaving BJP
Political analysts may find Uddhav joining hands with Congress a bold political decision, but it caused huge damage to his Hindutva image. BJP and Shinde Sena took full advantage of Uddhav joining hands with Congress. Slowly but surely, Uddhav moved away from Hindutva. Even though he joined hands with Raj Thackeray for BMC elections, it proved to be insufficient to win BMC.
Uddhav faces the challenge of regaining political ground
The biggest worry for Uddhav Thackeray in the BMC election results is the encouraging performance of Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. The special thing is that Shinde has achieved this impressive lead after separating from Uddhav. He has proved in election after election that the people of Maharashtra are liking his Shiv Sena more than the Uddhav Sena and a major reason behind this is Shinde being a Hindutva person as well as having an alliance with the BJP. At present, due to strongly standing with BJP, Shinde seems to be the biggest threat to Uddhav’s party and his future politics.
Return to Mahavikas Aghadi decided, but the path is not easy
Uddhav Thackeray has not only lost the election battle, but has also lost the battle of his party, election symbol and image. Now he will have to work hard to find and regain the political ground in Maharashtra which he has lost to Shinde Sena in the last few years. Although Uddhav’s party has made it clear that it will return to the MVA alliance for the assembly elections, it will be interesting to see what steps Uddhav and his MVA allies actually take next. Because, Congress has made it clear that it will not join any alliance in which Raj Thackeray is there.