As Shiv Sena turns centre-left, Raj Thackeray wants to be new champion of Hindutva in Maharashtra

Saffron flag. Portrait of Veer Savarkar on the stage. What more indication does one want that Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are all set to take a 'Right' turn. For a man who journeyed from being a most vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat model of development (ahead of 2014 general elections) to being Modi's fiercest critic during the campaign for 2019 general elections, Raj Thackeray's right turn is likely to serve the BJP than his own MNS as the former has been desperately searching for a 'Thackeray' brand after Shiv Sena dumped it to form MVA government in Maharashtra along with the Congress and the NCP.

On the occasion of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray's birth anniversary, the MNS is holding its first statewide conclave in Mumbai where party founder Raj Thackeray unveiled the new party flag. It is out and out saffron, no touch of green or blue or even white for that matter. Not only is it saffron, it also comes with the seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj kingdom embossed on it. The message is loud and clear, the MNS wants to be latest champion of Hindutva cause with warrior king Shivaji as its icon.

MNS's rightward turn is hardly surprising, especially after the original Sena turned centre-left to join hands with the secular Congress and the NCP. The centre-left turn by the Shiv Sena and its leadership's decision to join hands with arch-rival Congress-NCP have stunned many a loyal Shiv Sainiks and Hindutva sympathisers who have voted for the party for years. With the Shiv Sena toning down its rhetoric and aggressive Hindutva, Chief Minister Uddahv Thackeray on Wednesday met a group of 200 Muslims led by Raza Academy (an organisation accused of rioting in Mumbai in 2012 when its activists allegedly destroyed Shaheed Jawan memorial) president and assured them that his government would not implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Raj Thackeray is clearly sensing an opportunity to occupy that space.

Raj Thackeray will now aspire to emerge as the second 'Hindu Hriday Samrat' (king of Hindu Hearts), the first one being late Balasaheb Thackeray, eminent cartoonist and Shiv Sena founder. Shiv Sainiks always knew that even though Uddhav is the Shiv Sena supremo, he can never become another Hindu Hriday Samrat like his father for the simple fact that he does not have Shiv Sena founder's charisma, oratorical skills and aggressive nature to take his opponents head on. Raj Thackeray comes much closer to late Balasaheb Thackeray in terms of all these qualities. 

So when Raj Thackeray formed his MNS in 2006, media and even politicians hyped him up as the future inheritor of Thackeray senior's legacy. The Shiv Sainiks, who were loyal to him when he was in the Shiv Sena, joined the newly formed MNS in large numbers and in the very first municipal corporation elections in 2007, the MNS gave an impressive performance in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik. In 2009 assembly elections, MNS won 13 seats and torpedoed Sena-BJP's plans to wrest Maharashtra from the Congress-NCP as it damaged saffron combine candidates on more than 40 seats. That, however, was the peak of the MNS. Since then the slide has only been downwards. Raj Thackeray being a laidback politician—Sharad Pawar had famously advised him to wake up early in the morning and start his daily party work at 7—failed to strengthen party organisation, busied himself in long drawn chat sessions with coterie of sycophants in his own Durbar at Shivaji Park and surrounded himself with only 'Yes Men'. The man who wanted to transform agriculture in Maharashtra hardly made any efforts to understand the real causes of agrarian crisis that has engulfed the state. As a result, electoral performance of the MNS 2012 onwards has been dismal. It won only one seat in 2014 assembly elections—this lone legislator too returned to Shiv Sena in 2017—and in 2019, too, his party won only one seat—Kalyan Rural. The voteshare of the party which was around six per cent in 2009 assembly elections is down to just above two per cent in 2019.

With Shiv Sena moving closer to the Congress and the NCP in recent months, Raj Thackeray has sensed an opportunity to rebuild MNS on Hindutva platform, a cause which was always close to his heart as he was mentored by none other than the late Shiv Sena founder. No political party can afford to ignore warrior king Shivaji in Maharashtra. So it is not a surprise that Raj Thackeray is trying to revive his party with the help of the warrior king and his concept of 'Hindavi Swarajya'.