The national anthem played at Mumbai’s Shivaji Mandir auditorium in Mumbai’s predominantly Maharashtrian neighbourhood of Dadar on Wednesday, marking the end of Raj Thackeray’s party workers’ meet. But as the crowd started dispersing, something struck the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief as he appealed to his party cadre to stay put. Within minutes, the party’s theme song Tumchya Rajala saath dya (stand strongly behind your king) was sung, creating thunderous applause from the party members. Some excited party workers even broke into an impromptu dance. While the song targeted the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party, what was more striking was the portrayal of Raj Thackeray in his own party’s theme song as a dejected king who stands alone and betrayed and let down by his own people. By Raj Thackeray’s own admission, his party is on a downward spiral. And appeals to his cousin and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray haven’t helped either. After Uddhav’s refusal to answer even a single of the seven calls Raj made to him, a dejected Raj announced, “It (alliance proposal) is over for me now.”
After Uddhav trashed Raj, Raj made a fervently emotional appeal to the “Marathi manoos” of Mumbai to save Mumbai from the “tentacles of the Gujaratis”, “who are being wooed by the BJP”. He announced that the BJP’s gameplan was to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra. Raj, in his inimitable style, invoked the insecurities of the common Marathi Mumbaikar, in a fire-fighting mechanism to save his own party, which is currently being rocked by large-scale defections. Questioning the rationale behind starting a bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, he said the Sena had an equal hand in pulling Mumbai down. “How can you accuse BJP of corruption? You were an equal partner in power,” he said. The week had seen high drama after Raj Thackeray’s emissary Bala Nandgaonkar had to return empty-handed from Matoshree (the Shiv Sena chief’s residence). The Shiv Sena outright rejected Raj, even as a poster war raged in the Marathi-dominated areas of Mumbai. Vel ajun geli nahi (we can still come together), screamed the banners put up by MNS, even as Shiv Sena declared, Vel kadhich geliye (That time is long gone). As the political fortunes of MNS have dwindled drastically and its party cadre looks for greener pastuers in other parties, the truce proposal was seen as a last attempt for survival by Raj. Raj said in his address that the split between Shiv Sena and BJP was like a fixed match, and that they would come together after the municipal corporation elections. Just three days ago, he had sent a proposal for an “unconditional alliance” between Shiv Sena and MNS. It is interesting to remember that Raj Thackeray had split from Shiv Sena in 2006 to form a separate party on the same agenda that his uncle late Balasaheb Thackeray had propounded. Over a decade later, the younger Thackeray has still not been able to build a second line of leadership from within his party. According to the party cadre, it is difficult to get access to him, and he is barely seen on field with his party workers. His favouritism has ensured that he is surrounded by a handful of his loyalists who too are not in sync with the field realities, party members who defected to other parties said. Apart from winning the Nashik municipal corporation a few years ago, MNS has not been able to retain any political charm in the state or in Mumbai. Its seat and vote share has only declined in the recent past. He is trying to maintain his relevance by raking up issues like Marathi pride and regional chauvinism. Recently, after he extended an olive branch to his elder cousin Uddhav Thackeray, there were some initial hopes that the two parties might come together for the issue of Marathi pride. But considering the dwindling political fortunes of MNS, Sena leaders demanded that MNS should not fight the elections at all, and should in fact merge with it. The cold shoulder given by Uddhav irked Raj, who has said he will never talk of an alliance with the Sena.