The End of Shiv Sena? | Maharashtra Political Crisis Explained | Dhruv Rathee

Hello, friends! There were so many twists and turns in Maharashtra Politics that a political thriller film can be made on it. The Maha Vikas Aghadi Government. Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress. The government made of the collation of these three parties has now fallen. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has resigned from his post as the Chief Minister. But what's truly shocking is that the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra now in another politician from the Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde. Eknath Shinde and

several politicians from Shiv Sena rebelled against the party. Threw over the alliance government and established a new government with a new alliance. Some people claim that Eknath has backstabbed Uddhav Thackeray. Because of the greed for power. Some say that BJP indulged in horse-trading to bribe these MLAs to the tune of millions. And third, some people say that this was a fight for ideology. Uddhav Thackeray was drifting apart from Bal Thackeray's Hindutva ideology. And that Eknath Shinde w

ants to get the party back on the ideology. Some people even believe that all three reasons played a part. Friends, in today's video, come let's understand how it happened. By focusing on the ideologies of Shuv Sena. Let's see the history of the party. "It looks like it's 2019 all over again in Maharashtra." "Eknath Shinde; get used to hearing that name." "Eknath Shinde who has now turned into a rebel." "Shiv Sena is not born for power. Power is born for Shiv Sena." "Mr Eknath Shinde should be t

he Chief Minister." "Make sense of this for our viewers." "Mr Devendra Fadnavis was walking the path of sacrifice." "I, Eknath Sambhaji Shinde." "I, Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis," *oath-taking ceremony* Friends, what is the real Shiv Sena? Bala Saheb's Shiv Sena and true Hindutva. These words have been liberally used in this entire crisis. So to better understand these terms, we need to go back into history. Shiv Sena was founded by Bala Saheb Thackeray. But our story actually begins way befor

e that. With his father, Keshav Sitaram Thackeray. Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, a renowned Indian social reformer was born in 1885. The same year Congress Party was also founded. He was quite inspired by the ideologies of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. Additionally, he was a staunch believer in Hinduism. Along with another social reformer, Gajanan Bhaskar Vaidya, in 1918, he established the Hindu Missionary Society. They aimed to reconvert the Hindus who had adopted Christianity or Islam. This was basicall

y the original version of Ghar Wapasi. But the difference was that the conservative Hindus of the time opposed this. They said that if those people are reconverted into Hinduism, how would they determine the caste they would belong to? Keshav Sitaram Thackeray was strictly against casteism. He believed that because of the Brahmin priesthood, there has been a decline in Hindu unity. He was attracted to the Arya Samaj because of this. In 1920, Gandhi declared the Non-Cooperation Movement. Pandit N

ehru, Sardar Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose, Chandra Shekhar Azad, 16-year-old Lal Bahadur Shastri, and 13-year-old Bhagat Singh. Everyone participated in this movement. The same year, Keshav started a magazine named Prabodhan. Prabodhan means Enlightenment. The first issue was released in 1921, and he lays down the core principles of this publication. He says that Hindu morals have been trapped in the midst of world politics. To create a sense of brotherhood, we need to eradicate social differences

between us. And we need to protect our Hindutva. Our autonomy. Do pay attention to the word Hindutva, friends. He used the word before Savarkar did. Although it wasn't the first time the word was used, the word Hindutva was coined by Chandranath Basu in 1892. But we need to be in 1921, right now. The mercy petitions of Savarkar were finally being accepted by the British. Savarkar and his brother were then shifted to the Ratnagiri jail. The jail where Savarkar wrote his book Essentials of Hindut

va in 1922. In it, he showed that Hindutva is distinct from Hinduism. And that it has nothing to do with religion and rituals. In his book, Savarkar talked about a Unitarian Nation. He goes on to say that there should be only one God and only one language in a country. One God, One Language. As I told you in previous videos, he was a huge fan-boy of Adolf Hitler. He praised Nazism in no uncertain words. And being influenced by that, he turns Hindutva into a communal racist philosophy. He says th

at a Hindu is one such person whose Fatherland is India and who lives in India. According to him, it includes Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Hindus, but Muslims and Christians are excluded. On the other hand, Keshav Sitaram Thackeray had never shown any hatred towards Muslims and Christians. He wanted to reform Hinduism, create a Hindu unity, wanted a Hindu revival, but without any racism or hatred. Eventually, his magazine Prabodhan gained popularity. People started calling him Prabodhankar. A pe

rson who enlightens other people. In 1921, Keshav founded the Swadhyay Ashram as well. A social organisation creating awareness among people on social issues. They regularly organised Widow Remarriages for the upliftment of women. They promoted the public celebrations of the festivals which were focused on female deities. Such as Navratri. In a similar incident, he had set fire to a wedding venue when he saw that a 12-year-old girl was being forced to get married to a 65-year-old man. He was str

ictly against child Marriages too. Keshav Sitaram Thackeray's ideology was based on equality and social justice. Whenever he was informed about a dowry case, he would gather 500 people, insult the people present at the wedding, and would force them to return the dowry. Traditionally, he belonged to the CKP caste, friends. Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu. As a child, when he went to any public function to eat, he would have to stand in a separate line. While giving him water, people would ensure th

at the jug would not touch his glass. This is why when he read Mahatma Phule's work, he felt inspired by it. Because of these reasons, he was quite close to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. In 1926, a huge Ganpati festival was organised in Dadar, Mumbai. People from all castes donated to this festival. But the organising committee was dominated by Brahmins. So Ambedkar, Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, and another social reformer, Rao Bahadur SK Bole, went there with a group of around 100 people, and appealed t

o the Brahmins to have a lower-caste Hindu in the installation ceremony as well. After an extended argument, they agreed to it. But the organising committee announced that the Ganpati festival would never be celebrated in Dadar after it. To counter this, Keshav instituted his Ganpati Celebrations. He said that during Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's reign, Navratri Utsav was celebrated in every household, and every fort. He said that since the Deity Bhawani allows access to everyone, why should cas

te be given any prominence? In the festivals organised by him, people came in thousands. Including the people who were considered to be untouchables. They came together to celebrate these festivals. During this time, he helped dozens of people have an inter-caste marriage. If we compare these things with Savarkar's ideologies again, because he talked about Hindutva as well, though some people today claim that Savarkar was against casteism, but if you look at his work from back then, it is truly

questionable. In 1923, Savarkar defended casteism in the Hindu society saying that it is a natural component essential to creating a nation. In 1939, he assured the Hindus that the Hindu Mahasabha would not support any kind of compulsory legislature, that allowed the 'untouchables' to enter Hindu temples. Additionally, he called Manusmriti a fundamental Hindu Law. In contrast to this, Dr Ambedkar set fire to the copies of Manusmriti. Here, I'd like to recommend a very interesting and relevant au

diobook to you it is on Dr BR Ambedkar. You can listen to this on KUKU FM. In case you don't know, KUKU FM is a brilliant audio learning platform, On it, you can find many such audiobooks to listen to. Normally it costs ₹399 per year, but if you use the coupon code DHRUV50, you will get 50% off. For you, it will cost you only ₹199 per year, to access their entire library. The link to it is in the description below. Go check it out. And now let's get back to the topic. Keshav Sitaram Thackeray be

lieved that Manusmriti is a noose around the necks of Hindus. Interestingly friends, Keshav was actually quite close to the Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. A descendant of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Did you know that in 1902, 28-year-old Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, took a radical decision, to reserve 50% of the posts for the backward classes. This was years before Independence. Apart from these social issues, there's the prevalent issue of the Marathi people. In 1922, Keshav said that Marathis w

ere losing their jobs, because of the large influx of migrants from other states. He played a crucial role in the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement. This led to the creation of the State of Maharashtra. He had convinced Dr Amdedkar to have the Dalit people participate in it too, to demand a state of Maharashtra. Friends, from here we can see the foundational principles, on which the Shiv Sena political party is based. First: Hindutva. Second: welfare of the Marathi people. Third: Chhatrapati Shivaji

Maharaj. Shiv Sena was named after him. Keshav's Hindutva was similar to that of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Jyotiba Phule, and Swami Dayanand Saraswati's Hinduism. As I told you, it was a stark contrast to Savarkar's Hindutva. Friends, this is where Bal Thackeray enters our story. Keshav's son Bal Thackeray was quite influenced by him. He began his career as a cartoonist. He drew cartoons. For the English language daily The Free Press Journal, and for the Marathi daily Navsh

akti. In 1960, he published his political weekly, Marmik. This name was suggested by his father. There was a repetitive theme to this magazine. "Marathi Manus." That the Marathi people are very oppressed and that they have to face many atrocities against themselves. They are losing government jobs, corporate jobs, and even clerical jobs. They were being taken up by the South Indians. He referred to them as the outsiders. Many Maharashtrians complained about discrimination. They wrote letters to

the magazine about the wrong they suffered. And in a column in this magazine, titled Vaacha Ani Thanda Basa, meaning Read and Keep Cool, they published the names of the non-Marathi people who were working in the top positions of various organisations in Mumbai. They were called Lunhiwala and Madrasi. Said that they live in slums and they were the reason for the increase in the crime rate in the city. By 1966, this magazine had become very popular. It was being read by more than 40,000 people. It

was Keshav's idea to have a political party, to fight for the rights of the Marathi people. He chose to name the party the Shiv Sena. On 19th June 1966, Shiv Sena was officially founded. The inaugural rally held in October 1966, was attended by about 100,000 people. Keshav Sitaram Thackeray was one of the speakers, and the last speaker was Bal Thackeray. But eventually, Shiv Sena became a vigilante group. The Shiv Sainiks ofter relied on violence. Such as in February 1969, during a Maharashtra-

Karnataka border dispute, the then Deputy Prime Minister Morarji Desai, was on a visit to Mumbai, the workers of Shiv Sena blocked his car, broke the windshield, many buses were set on fire, at least 60 people were killed in this incident due to police firing. In 1973, Keshav Sitaram Thackeray passed away. But some years ago, Shiv Sena had already turned towards Communalism. In 1970, in a Muslim-dominated town called Bhiwandi, in the outskirts of Mumbai, there were high tensions between the Hind

us and Muslims here. Despite that, Shiv Sena decided to take out a Shivaji Jayanti procession from the area. This led to riots between the Hindus and Muslims. More than 250 people were killed. By the late 1980s, Shiv Sena had moved away from Keshav Thackeray's Hindutva, and turned towards Savarkar's Hindutva. At one point, Bal Thackeray compared the Muslims to cancer and said that Hindus need to come together to bring Islam to its knees. In 1989, Shiv Sena launched its daily newspaper Samna, and

since then it has been the voice of the political party. In the 1990s, the thing that Shiv Sena was most known for was the 1992-93 Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai. The Srikrishna Commission was set up. After their enquiry, they revealed that the Sena was responsible for the Hindu-Muslim riots. In it, more than 900 people were killed. In 1991 and again in 1999, Shiv Sainiks forcefully cancelled India-Pakistan matches, by damaging pitches in Mumbai and Delhi. In 2010, when Shahrukh Khan's films were

playing in cinema halls, they attacked the screenings, Because Shahrukh Khan had said that the Pakistani players, should be able to join the IPL, and come here to play in it. Singers like Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hasan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, have large fanbases in India. And art and culture have always been something that promotes brotherhood. But in 2015, Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali had to cancel his concerts, in Mumbai and Pune, when Shiv Sena threatened violence at the venue. In the 1990s,

Shiv Sena launched a campaign to rename Bombay to Mumbai. The city was officially renamed in 1995. And in 2008, when 2 institutes were spotted with signboards, using the old name, Shiv Sainiks went and vandalised them. The names of the institutions contained the word, Bombay. Such as the Bombay Scottish School. It's the same thing how the Bombay High Court is still the 'Bombay' High Court. And not Mumbai High Court. During the 90s and the early 2000s, you will find many such examples or riots, v

iolence, people being threatened, which were caused, directly or indirectly, by Shiv Sena workers. Knowing these facts, it will not be surprising if I told you that Bal Thackeray was also a huge fanboy of Adolf Hitler. Asia Week quoted Bal Thackeray saying that "I am a great admirer of Hitler, and I'm not ashamed to say so. I do not say that I agree with all the methods that he employed, but he was a wonderful organizer and orator. And I feel that he and I have several things in common." In Bal

Thackeray's opinion, India needed a dictator who could work benevolently. Keshav Sitaram Thackeray and Savarkar had communicated but the two disagreed with each other so much, ideologically, that the two could never work together. But Bal Thackeray did admire Savarkar. Similarly, Keshav disagreed with Gandhi on several fronts, on various issues, but he admired Gandhi a lot. He had refused to write in Nathuram Godse's Marathi magazine. Because Godse believed in referring to Gandhi as Mr Gandhi an

d not Mahatma Gandhi. But in 1991, Bal Thackeray was seen in support of a BJP candidate at an election rally in Pune, saying that the act of Nathuram Godse was a matter of pride and not to be ashamed of. It is interesting to note that Bal Thackeray used the same three words as Keshav Thackeray, Hindutva, Marathi people, and Shivaji. But his ideology built with these three words, was in direct contradiction to that of Keshav Thackeray's. Keshav Thackeray's concern for Marathi people because they

were losing their jobs, was not necessarily a narrow-minded view, it can be considered a trait of federalism. There are already such restrictions in some states, that people from other states cannot buy land and property in the state, he simply extended that to say that the restrictions should be imposed on jobs as well. But when Bal Thackeray used this ideology, he took it to the limits of Xenophobia. Violence against people migrating from UP and Bihar, racism against South Indians, it creates

cracks in national unity. Overall, the image of Shiv Sena had become that of a far right-wing organisation. Communal, jingoistic, regionalistic, dictatorial, and back then in the early 2000s, it was considered even more right-wing than BJP. Obviously, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's BJP falls into the category of Centre-Right wing. The Shiv Sena was in power in Maharastra only once from 1995 to 1999. With the support of the BJP, Bal Thackeray was never in a position of power, in any government position.

Despite that, his hold over Maharashtra was very strong. Especially in the BMC elections. Bal Thackeray passed away in 2012, and with this, the leadership of the party passed on to his son Uddhav Thackeray. In 2014, Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, and Shiv Sena is an old-time ally of the BJP. It stood in support of BJP. And so we come to the year 2019. The state elections were supposed to be held in Maharashtra in 2019. BJP and Shiv Sena were allies. After the election result, Shiv Sena

was infuriated with BJP. Uddhav Thackeray claimed that they were betrayed by BJP several times. They were betrayed time and again, and the promises made by them were never kept. It's said that the BJP had promised them that the Chief Minister of Maharashtra would be from the Shiv Sena for at least 2.5 years. But after the election results were declared, they weren't fulfilling this promise. Then Shiv Sena went ahead and formed an alliance with the NCP and Congress. The Maha Vikas Agadi governme

nt was formed. And Uddav Thackeray became the Chief Minister. things went on normally for about 2 years, but a big revolt was being planned behind the curtains. Shiv Sena's leader Eknath Shinde joined hands with many rebel MLAs, and went to Guwahati suddenly. They spent time in a luxury hotel for about 8 days, during this time, some more MLAs were convinced to be in their support, and to let go of their loyalty towards Uddhav Thackeray. It is said that for the time spent in this hotel they raked

up a bill of ₹7 million. Keep in mind this was the time when Assam with struggling with the devastating floods. They resurface and form an alliance with BJP, and form a new government. People were expecting BJP's Devendra Fadnavis to be the Chief Minister, but he was named the Deputy CM, And Eknath Shinde became the Chief Minister. The MLAs supporting Shinde, the rebel MLAs, constitute 2/3rds of the strength of the party in terms of seats in the Assembly, the anti-defection law would not be app

licable here. The Anti-Defection Law was created to avoid such defections, but if more than 2/3rds of the MLAs defect, it becomes an exception to the rule. They claim that they are the real Shiv Sena. Because Uddhav Thackeray could not carry on Bal Thackeray's ideologies. Friends, the thing is that, Uddhav Thackeray's ideologies match his grandfather Keshav Sitaram Thackeray. Unlike his father Bal Thackeray. In 2014 he said that he has nothing against Muslims. And that Shiv Sena opposes only the

'anti-national' Muslims, but the Muslims who consider India as their Motherland, and want to live here peacefully, can do so. With time, Shiv Sena's stance had softened. In 2017's BMC elections, Shiv Sena had fielded several Muslim candidates. Two of whom won as well. It is true that the events of 2019, was a major shift. Shiv Sena had started aligning with Congress and NCP. But it was evident that Uddhav Thackeray's ideologies were always similar to that of Keshav Thackeray's. In May this year

, Uddhav Thackeray's son Aditya Thackeray said the same things. For him, the word 'Hindutva' was not one of hatred. To him, it meant bringing people together. Aditya Thackeray is actually the first in his family to contest in the elections, and he won by a significant margin. He was given the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. In an interview, he said that each generation has a different need. And with time, everyone has to change. He talks about eradicating soci

etal discrimination, on the basis of religion, caste, and language. In 2019, he even said that his party does not believe in labelling people as anti-national. Simply because they question the government. Another shift in the ideology of Shiv Sena. From the era when on Valentine's Day, Shiv Sena workers would attack couples, Aditya Thackeray sent a proposal in 2015, to the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, to allow nightclubs to stay open longer. He attended COP26 for Climate Change in Glas

gow. Maharashtra had even won an award at this summit. Due to these reasons, Shiv Sena saw an increased acceptance among the voters. Uddhav Thackeray was praised during the Covid crisis. For his management of Covid in his state. And ironically, even for communalism, the same Shiv Sena which caused communal riots at one time, but during the last 2 years of Udhhav Thackeray's tenure, there were no communal riots in Maharashtra. An infamous incident during his tenure was the Palghar incident. Where

two hermits and a driver were lynched by a mob, on the suspicion of them being child kidnappers, there was a huge uproar about this in the media, reporters like Arnab Goswami, and actresses like Kangana Ranaut, tried to give it a communal spin. Saying that the Hindus were being attacked. But it was revealed by the Home Minister, that of the 101 people arrested, none of them was a Muslim. And that there was no communal angle to the entire incident. But people still tried to give it a communal ti

nt. Now, it is to be seen will this be the end of the Thackeray family? Will Shiv Sena now mean Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena? If so, which ideology will Shiv Sena follow? Bal Thackeray and Savarkar's Hindutva, or Keshav Sitaram Thackrey's Hindutva? Will the party split into two? If so, there will a battle before the Election Commission over this. The BMC elections are supposed to be held this year, 2022. And the State Elections two years later, in 2024. So we'll get the answers to these questions v

ery soon. I hope this video was as informative as always. My voice was a bit uneven this time, because I haven't completely recovered yet. But hopefully, you wouldn't mind that. Let's meet in the next video. Thank you very much!