The attack by members of the Shiv Sena on a media organisation in South Mumbai is consistent with the party’s historical legacy as well as its growing frustration at the anti-incumbency mood in Mumbai as the city prepares for elections to the country’s richest municipal corporation.
Clearly, the Sena has its back to the wall, the advertising campaign proclaiming karun dakhavla (we have done it) notwithstanding. That people’s patience with the alliance governing the BMC for over 15 years had worn thin was apparent to anyone who attended DNA’s My Locality My Voice sessions. Indeed, after the first couple of sessions, Sena corporators began shying away, saying they had instructions “from above” not to attend any such function until the party had declared its candidate list.
None of the other major parties, whether the Congress, the BJP, the NCP or the MNS, had any such restriction on interacting with the public on a non-party platform.
In Kalyan, Sena MP Anand Paranjape has been openly hobnobbing with the NCP, daring the party to expel him so that he can retain his seat in the Lok Sabha even as he joins the side that he believes is on the ascendancy. In such a climate of uncertainty about the party’s future, the average Sainik is bound to feel aggrieved when there is speculation about the defection of senior members. But he would do well to remember that such behaviour is only going to alienate him further from voters.
For a politician, humility in victory and grace in defeat are not just desirable attributes; they are necessary to tide over the difficult periods that are bound to arise in political life.
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