Today, i.e November 17, 2021, is the ninth death anniversary of Balasaheb Thackeray, one of the tallest Maharashtrian leaders. However, on his death anniversary, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is normally quite active on social media, has so far, not paid his tributes to the Sena ideologue.
Rahul Gandhi has posted two tweets since morning, but none of them is about remembering Balasaheb Thackeray on his death anniversary.
It is worth noting that Congress and Shiv Sena are alliance partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. Yet, the former Congress president has refrained from commemorating the founder of the political party his party is in alliance with. This impertinence even after Shiv Sena had gone overboard in pleasing Congress when their Bhawan was decked up with posters carrying pictures of Bal Thackeray with Indira Gandhi after the two parties decided to form an alliance in November 2019.
Balasaheb Thackeray had once slammed Rahul Gandhi
With Gandhi not paying his obeisance to the ideological fountainhead of Shiv Sena, rumour mills are swirling that Rahul’s unwillingness to tweet on Balasaheb’s death anniversary could be linked to the widening rift between the two political parties or perhaps if he is still smarting from the cutting remarks that Balasaheb Thackeray had once made against him.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi, Balasaheb had said, “He was born yesterday and wants to be prime minister today. Is the PM’s post up for auction?” He had heavily criticized the series of corruption cases during the Congress regime as well. He asserted, “The Yuvraj of Congress (Rahul Gandhi) is very vocal on the corruption by Mayawati. However, he is not saying anything about the corruption by his government.” He also wrote, “His mummy (Sonia Gandhi) is also quiet on the issue. The Prime Minister is also not opening his mouth. The truth is hidden in the silence”.
Widening rift within the members of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra?
In addition to this, every once in a while, reports start trickling out of Maharashtra that everything is not hunky-dory between the alliance partners of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, alleging that the coalition might be on the verge of an imminent collapse. In June this year, state Congress chief Nana Patole had said that Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance is not a permanent fixture, reaffirming his party’s desire of going solo in the future polls.
Patole’s rebuttal elicited sharp responses from the Shiv Sena leaders, most notably by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray himself, who took a dig at ally Congress saying that people would “beat with footwear” to those who only talk about contesting elections alone without offering solutions to problems.
“If a party says that it wants to contest elections on its own without joining hands with others, it should first generate confidence among the public of its ability to provide jobs,” the Chief Minister had said.
Sanjay Raut also took a swipe at the Congress party, saying that Shiv Sena was always ready for an electoral battle at any given time. In a thinly veiled jibe aimed at the Congress party, Raut said parties must first emerge out of their confusion and then decide whether or not to contest polls alone.
The furore only intensified when the embattled Shiv sena leader Pratap Sarnaik suggested the party to reconcile with PM Modi “before it’s too late” and snap their with the NCP and Congress. In a letter addressed to CM Uddhav Thackeray on June 10, Sarnaik urged him to align with the BJP, saying that the Congress and NCP, which are constituents in the Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, were weakening the party by fomenting divisions in its ranks and also pointed out that civic polls are due in many cities, including Mumbai, in coming months.
Even though MVA leaders express confidence in completing its term, behind this veneer of normalcy, is an intense tussle underway between the coalition partners of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, who are perhaps biding their time and waiting for the opportune moment to call off the unholy nexus. While it cannot be said with certainty that the MVA alliance is on the verge of an inevitable split, Rahul’s decision to not pay his homage to Balasaheb Thackeray on his death anniversary only serves to add fuel to such suspicions.
Rahul’s supporters might claim there is not much to be read here and that their leader might have genuinely forgotten to pay tributes to the founder of Shiv Sena, but that only goes to show the priorities of the Congress party and the precarious state of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.
