Dussehra, or Vijayadashmi as it is also called in Maharashtra, is celebrated as the day of victory of good over evil. It is on this day that two very important public rallies are set to take place in Maharashtra.
One is the address by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur on Wednesday morning and the other is the annual Dussehra rally of the Shiv Sena at Shivaji Park. While the public rally by Bhagwat has assumed more significance since Narendra Modi became prime minister, the Dussehra rally by the Shiv Sena chief has been a talking point in state politics ever since the party was formed in 1966.
Shiv Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray held the first annual Dussehra rally on October 30, 1966—the year Shiv Sena was formed. It was during this rally that Thackeray's father, late social reformer and thinker K.S. Thackeray, announced before Shiv Sainiks: "My son Bal belonged to the family till today. Henceforth, I have given him to you for the cause of Shiv Sena."
Interestingly, the first rally of Shiv Sena was attended by Congress leader Ramrao Adik who later went on to become finance minister and deputy chief minister in Congress governments in Maharashtra.
For common Shiv Sainiks, the speech of late Balasaheb Thackeray was of immense importance as it would outline the political and social action programme the party would follow during the course of the year. This speech, often referred to as 'Guidance' by the Shiv Sena chief, energised the common party worker, mobilised the party cadre and exhorted them to work with dedication through the network of Shiv Sena shakhas.
When the Shiv Sena first captured power in BMC in 1985, the platform of Dussehra rally was used by Balasaheb Thackeray to spell out his idea of governance in Mumbai. It was also in a Dussehra rally in the late 1980s that Thackeray spelt out his Hindutva agenda with much more clarity, hinting that the cause of the sons of the soil had been pushed to the backside—thus paving way for an alliance with the BJP, then led by late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani.
The tradition of Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park has continued unhindered in the last 56 years barring only three years. In the year 2005, it had rained very heavily on the day of Dussehra and the rally had to be called off. Then in 2009 and 2014 due to the election code of conduct, the Dusshera rally was not held because of assembly elections in the state.
The last address by Balasaheb Thackeray was via video conference in 2012, a few days before his death. In this rally, he urged Shiv Sainiks to take care of Uddhav and Aditya as he had given his son and grandson for party work. During the two years of the pandemic, when a public meeting at Shivaji Park was not possible, the Dussehra rally was held in closed door auditoriums on a much smaller scale.
The Dussehra rally being held on Wednesday at the Shivaji park assumes immense importance following a vertical split in the Shiv Sena as Sena strongman Eknath Shinde left the party along with 40 legislators and 12 MPs in the month of June. Shinde said that he was forced to act as Uddhav had dumped the cause of Hindutva that was so dear to his father late Balasaheb Thackeray by joining hands with Congress and NCP to come to power in the state.
Like Uddhav's camp, the Shinde faction is also holding its own Dusshera rally at the BKC ground. Nearly 5,000 buses and vehicles have been booked to bring loyal party activists to respective rallies and both factions are leaving no stone unturned to make sure that their numbers are bigger. While Uddhav's rally is likely to see attendance of Congress-NCP workers Shinde's rally has the blessing of the BJP and presence of BJP cadres in sizable numbers at the BKC can be expected.
With both groups fighting for the control of the Shiv Sena, the crowds of cadre that throng both venues can be used to bolster claims by both factions that they are the real inheritors of Balasaheb Thackeray's legacy.
