Dasara Melavas and Maharashtra politics: Significance of the Shiv Sena and RSS rallies in a poll year

Celebrating the triumph of good versus evil, Shiv Sena uses Dasara/Dussehra Melavas to declare its intent, RSS reflects and instructs BJP while other local satraps seek to make a mark

Story so far: Maharashtra awaits a new Assembly with State elections expected to be held in the coming few weeks. With seat-sharing talks in its final stages between both coalitions – Mahayuti (BJP, NCP, Shiv Sena) and Maha Vikas Aghadi [Congress, NCP-SP, Sena (UBT)], the people await the annual agenda-setting rally: the Dasara/Dussehra Melava (rally).

On the tenth day of the Navaratri festival, Dussehra (Vijay Dashami), both factions of the Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Maratha quota activist Jarange Patil and BJP leader Pankaja Munde will be holding their annual events. While the two Senas’ events will be held in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park and Azad Maidan respectively, RSS’ event will be held in its headquarters at Nagpur. while Beed will host Mr. Patil’s and Ms. Munde’s rallies.

Held annually, the Dussehra rally sets the agenda for the Senas and RSS respectively. This year, being a poll year, will showcase the election preparedness, the line of attack, the leadership, potential government policies, and the respective claims to Bal Thackeray’s legacy of the two Shiv Senas. On the other hand, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat usually does not discuss election strategies during these rallies, rather he advises the cadets (and the BJP at large) on the Sangh’s stance on national, religious and socio-economic issues and its plans for Indian society at large. Since this is a poll year, Mr. Bhagwat’s address may also have nuggets on governance and politics.

Here’s a look at how these Dussehra rallies affect Maharashtra politics.

Shiv Sena

In 1966, Bal Thackeray announced the arrival of his Shiv Sena at a massive Dussehra rally on October 30 at Mumbai’s iconic Shivaji Park, roaring at Marathi youth to “reclaim their identities and their place in society.” The rally helped shape the Sena’s identity as a ‘protector of the Marathi Manoos’. Addressing the gathered supporters, surprisingly large in number for a brand new party, Mr. Thackeray urged Marathi-speaking citizens to ‘question why sons of the soil were being sidelined’ for jobs in the city and to rectify this.

Since then, the Dussehra rally has been used by Mr. Thackeray to announce Sena’s political agenda, fire up its cadres, issue ‘threats’ or missives to his rivals, assert Sena’s Marathi and later Hindutva identity and announce his/Sena’s stance on issues. Through the years, Mr. Thackeray has gradually changed the Sena’s Maharashtra-centric ideology to a broader Hindutva one via his famous speeches at Shivaji Park. In election years, Sena, which was first voted to power in 1995 along with the BJP, has used Dussehra rallies to make poll promises to voters.

In 1980s, when textile workers were striking against the Congress government, Mr. Thackeray shared the stage with then-Congress rebel Sharad Pawar and Janata Party leader George Fernandes at the Dussehra rally, signalling the Shiv Sena’s soured ties with Congress. Through the 1990s, Mr. Thackeray advocated for the building of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, even boasting about the Sena’s role in the Babri Masjid demolition.

Apart from Sena politics, Mr. Thackeray used the Dussehra rally to launch his grandson Aaditya (Uddhav Thackeray’s elder son) as the president of the the newly-created Yuva Sena (Sena’s youth wing). In 2013, Mr. Thackeray’s chosen successor – his son Uddhav— took over the reins of the Sena after his father’s demise and has been addressing the Dussehra rally since then.

In 2014, when Sena and BJP first parted ways ahead of the State elections, Mr. Uddhav Thackeray accused the BJP’s Maharashtra unit of ‘back-stabbing the Sena’, ending their 25-year alliance. He asserted, “BJP has severed ties with Hindutva. If it can betray an old friend, how can it do good to people.” While the duo made up and eventually ruled the State for five years, in 2019, Sena was once again up in arms against the BJP, staking claim to the CM post and equal distribution of cabinet portfolios.

In the 2019 Dussehra rally, Sena projected Aaditya Thackeray (who was making his poll debut) as the CM candidate. Defending Sena’s decision to ally with BJP again, Uddhav Thackeray had asserted, “Sena can never bow down in front of anyone except God. And had we not allied with the BJP, whom should we support? Congress?” Ironically, after the election results, Uddhav Thackeray parted ways with BJP and formed the MVA with Congress and NCP to usher in his maiden CM term.

In 2022, the Dussehra rally became the biggest flash point for the Sena. With Eknath Shinde rebelling against Uddhav Thackeray and ultimately bringing down the MVA government, two Sena rallies were held in Mumbai. Mr. Shinde relented in his bid to hold his faction’s rally at Shivaji Park, opting for the MMRDA grounds at Bandra Kurla Complex, leaving Mr. Thackeray to hold his rally in front of his father’s memorial.

Terming Mr. Shinde and his MLAs as parasites leeching onto the roots of Shiv Sena, Mr. Thackeray said, “Ministers are for time being, but the scars of traitor will remain with you forever.” In retaliation, Mr. Shinde accused Mr. Thackeray of compromising Sena’s principles and the people’s mandate by allying with NCP and Congress, saying, “Go and kneel down at Balasaheb’s memorial and apologise for betraying the people of Maharashtra”.

The next year, Maratha reservation became the focus for the two rival Sena rallies – both accusing each other for the failure to implement an 18% reservation for the community. By this time, the Election Commission had deemed Shinde’s faction as the real Shiv Sena, allowing it to use the party’s iconic bow and arrow symbol, while the Thackeray faction was named as Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and chose the fire torch as its symbol.

This year’s rally will mostly likely see the coalitions (Mahayuti and MVA) announce their seat-sharing formula. The BJP is likely to contest on 150 seats, Sena on 80-90 seats and NCP on the remaining seats. On the MVA side, the split seems to be more even with 50-60 seats still in contention. Neither coalition has decided to project a CM face.

Through the years, the rally has been cancelled thrice – in 2006 due to heavy rains, in 2009 due to the state elections and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Sena rally has always been held at Shivaji Park except in 2021, when Mr. Thackeray opted for Shanmukhananda Hall due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)

Dussehra is the most important of the six festivals celebrated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as it coincides with its foundation day. The RSS was founded in Nagpur by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar on September 27, 1925, which fell on Dussehra that year. Every year, the festival is marked by a symbolic Shastra Puja (a ritual worshipping weapons) performed by RSS volunteers and an address by the RSS Sarsanghchalak (chief) to thousands of RSS volunteers from Nagpur’s Reshimbagh grounds.

RSS, which is the ideological parent of the BJP, helps the saffron party gain ground support among voters in elections and gives feedback to the party regarding its schemes – hits and misses alike. Notably, as the chief’s address falls in October-November every year, it falls neatly before the Maharashtra elections and months after the Lok Sabha elections in poll years. The chief’s address generally gives an insight into the Sangh Parivar’s takeaways from the Lok Sabha results and sets goals to be achieved in the future, i.e., chalking out the BJP’s to-do list of policies.

Before the BJP was voted to power, the RSS chief’s address raised national issues, often criticising the Congress-led government’s inability to tackle security threats (internal and external), and its economic failures. However, the chief also commented on the need to reject westernisation and promote small Indian businesses and agriculture, and on Hindutva.

Since 2014, the Narendra Modi government began broadcasting the current Sarasanaghachalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat’s annual speech on Doordarshan, the government news broadcaster, earning the Opposition’s ire. In 2014, Mr. Bhagwat listed the BJP-led government’s achievements, lauding the Centre for taking steps to make India a ‘Vishwa Guru’. Targetting Opposition-ruled areas like Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, he claimed that ‘jihadi’ activities and illegal migrants were on the rise. Highlighting the historic change ushered in by the 2014 mandate, Dr. Bhagwat urged people to help Mr. Modi promote India on the global stage.

In 2019, Dr. Bhagwat asserted that the re-election of the BJP government was proof that people believed it had the “courage to fulfill expectations, respect sentiments in the interest of the nation.” Listing BJP’s achievements such as revoking Article 370 and India’s Chandrayaan mission, he also warned the Centre to not get lazy as threats “loomed across India’s borders and within” and downplayed lynching of minorities, claiming that sometimes incidents were ‘deliberately fabricated’ and were ‘never one-sided’. However, he asserted that the Sangh stood against such violence.

In June, Mr. Modi was re-elected for a historic third term, but the BJP failed to clinch a majority on its own. The party chief’s assertion that ‘the BJP runs itself’ and the saffron party’s bold claim ‘Abki baar 400 paar’ (This time, will cross 400) were proven wrong as BJP won only 240 seats, losing 20% of its vote share.

Chiding the BJP, Dr. Bhagwat condemned the party’s ‘divisive poll campaign’ and needless dragging of the RSS into it, in his address to RSS volunteers on June 11. In an indirect jibe to the BJP, he said, “A true servant [sevak] performs tasks without taking pride in the accomplishment,” adding that Opposition should not be seen as enemy but as a counterpoint. His upcoming address is expected to be a reflection on the mandate and chalk out BJP’s poll campaign.

Other rallies this year

Apart from the Shiv Senas and RSS, BJP’s leader Pankaja Munde holds an annual Dussehra rally in Bhagwangad, Beed which will be in focus this year. Through the years, Ms. Munde has used the rally to assert her agenda to her community (Marathas) and take potshots at rivals. This year she will be joined by her cousin, NCP minister and Ajit Pawar’s close confidant Dhananjay Munde.

The Munde cousins were pitted against each other in 2019 for the Parli Lok Sabha seat in which Ms. Munde was defeated by her cousin. Since then, Ms. Munde has been sidelined by ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis in the BJP. She also lost her recent Lok Sabha bid from NCP-SP’s Bajrang Sonawane and was accommodated in the State’s legislative council. With the NCP and BJP now in alliance, the Munde cousins will share a stage in Savargaon as Maratha reservation takes front stage during these polls.

Maratha agitation activist Jarange Patil, who extended support to Sharad Pawar’s faction in Baramati, is set to intensify his demand to include all Marathas under the OBC category to avail reservation, at his Dussehra rally in Beed’s Narayangad. Asserting that the meeting would merely be a ‘show of unity of Marathas and farmers’ and not political in nature, he has warned the Mahayuti government to resolve the quota issue before the model code of conduct is imposed across the state. Mr. Patil has held six hunger strikes this year in connection to the quota demand.

With Maharashtra elections around the corner, these Dussehra rallies will set the tone of the parties’ campaigns and the issues around which they will revolve.

Published - October 11, 2024 07:25 pm IST