Less than a fortnight after the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance was defeated in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP) announced on Saturday that it was leaving the MVA, saying Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray “is back. Justification for Babri Masjid demolition”. affirming his old position” which was “unacceptable”.
“We have left the MVA. What is the point of continuing the front when there is no uniformity in the issue and adequate consultation with the allies? State SP chief Abu Azmi said
The SP has been a part of the larger MVA alliance which essentially includes the Congress, the Sena (UBT) and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).
The SP’s move comes after Uddhav’s close aide and Sena (UBT) MLC Milind Narvekar posted a photo of the demolition of the Babri Masjid on X. The photo also featured Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, Uddhav and his son Aditya with captions in Marathi. Read: “Whoever did it, I’m proud of them.” This was purportedly a comment made by the late Bal Thackeray after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
– Milind Narvekar (@NarvekarMilind_) December 5, 2024
“(Uddhav) Thackeray joined MVA in 2019. At that time, he pledged for secularism to win the support of Congress. After the defeat in the assembly elections, Thackeray has gone back to his old position of justifying the Babri Masjid demolition. This is unacceptable to us. That is why we have withdrawn from MVA. We have decided to leave,” said Azmi.
In the assembly elections, the incumbent BJP-led grand coalition, which also includes Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, won a surprise victory by winning 230 out of 288 seats. Among the MVA partners, the Army (UBT) won 20 seats, the Congress and the NCP (SP) bagged 16 and 10 seats respectively.
The SP won two of the eight seats contested, including six seats where there was a “friendly fight” with MVA allies.
“What is the use of continuing in MVA? They are not talking to us. We were not part of the strategy or ticket distribution,” said Azmi, who won from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat.
The Sena (UBT) camp hit back at the SP, with its leader Bhaskar Jadhav pointing out that his party’s stand on the Babri demolition dates back to 1992. He asked whether the SP had not taken into account the army’s stand after 32 years. Now he has accused Mahayuti of leaning towards the alliance.
Last week, soon after the election results, Uddhav held a meeting with party MLAs and corporators, in which a majority of them expressed the view that the party should return to its original Hindutva agenda. They said the perception that the army (UBT) was “going secular” had adversely affected their electoral fortunes, sources said.
As Uddhav argued with them that the party had never compromised on its Hindutva ideology, he asked them to campaign aggressively and convince the people, sources said.
Sena (UBT) leader and Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve, blamed “Congress overconfidence” for the MVA defeat in that meeting.
‘Until the last moment, the Congress was fighting for the seat. This has affected the results. If they had projected Uddhav Thackeray as the next chief minister, we would have got 5 to 7 per cent more votes,” claimed Danve.
While the Sena (UBT) has insisted that it continues to be part of the MVA, a section of the party is of the view that it should now chart its own independent course outside the MVA. In the run-up to the coming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, this section argues, the party should recalibrate its position centered on its original “Hindutva and son of the soil” base.
Both Congress and NCP (SP) tried to defuse the row. “SP is a part of the India alliance. We will discuss the stand taken by Abu Azmi with Akhilesh Yadav (SP national president) and decide. We will also hold talks with Abu Azmi and convince him to stay in the MVA,” said senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar.
On Narvekar’s post on the Babri demolition, another Congress leader said that he would have to check with the Senior Army (UBT) leaders to find out if this was their party’s official stand or Narvekar’s personal position.
NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awad said, “He (Azmi) must have said this out of anger. I will discuss it with him. Our senior leaders will also talk to him and find a way out of this.”
Amidst the controversy, Sena (UBT) leader Danve said, “Sena UBT has never abandoned Hindutva. We have always been Hindutva but that does not mean our ideology is anti-Muslim or we have ever been anti-Muslim. Our Hindutva is about nationalism and patriotism. Our fight was always against pseudo-secularism.