Maharashtra’s electorate has now been well acquainted with phrases like ‘for a stable government’ and ‘for the betterment of the people. The NCP had cited these claims while supporting the Devendra Fadanvis-led government unconditionally. And the reunion of BJP and Shiv Sena has transpired on identical grounds. It is futile to ask whether this merger will survive the test of time or is it moral to reunite for power. Morality has long become a footnote in the state’s politics. If Congress and NCP could keep aside its animosity in 1999 and join hands, then why not the BJP-Sena? It won’t be difficult to sustain the government either. If not the state’s, the personal backlog will be certainly covered.
But with Shiv Sena allying with the BJP, an unprecedented instance has occurred. For the first time after the inception of Maharashtra, an opposition party has entirely joined the government. Eknath Shinde, who was the opposition leader in the assembly, has assumed ministership. This has thrown up an amusing scenario. At the moment, the state neither has an official opposition party, nor an opposition leader.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had been on the fence for a while. He was struggling to arrive at a conclusion regarding joining the BJP-led government. The BJP was also playing mind games. So even though Shiv Sena had applied for the status of opposition party, it never really wanted to become one. That move was taken merely to prevent Congress from doing so. The Sena leaders were hungry for ministership. They became an opposition party merely as a precautionary measure, to avoid further embarrassment in case the BJP did not comply. So did Shiv Sena deceive the electorate? Uddhav does not seem to think so. Before the first session of the Assembly, opposition leader Eknath Shinde embarked on a tour to the drought-affected regions in the state with former opposition leader Ramdas Kadam. During the tour, they criticised the Fadanvis-led government. Unsurprisingly, all that seems to have escaped their minds.
However, the Shiv Sena allying with the BJP has triggered a rat-race between the NCP and Congress. NCP has become a synonym for opportunism. The party and its leadership appear to have suffered from convenient dementia. While claiming to be the opposition party, it has forgotten that it extended unconditional support to BJP merely a month back. Since five out of Congress’ 42 MLAs have been suspended, NCP is technically the single largest opposition party with 42 seats, is Ajit Pawar’s claim. They have never been worried about important questions like farmers' suicides and other ills faced by the electorate. In any case, a party which has vested interests with various groups among those in power, which has mastered the politics of money and muscle power, can never be a natural opposition party. If it does, it will not only spell doom for the electorate, but will also be an insult to the Assembly.
That leaves us with the Congress. Their leader is Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, a man who was a minister during the Shiv Sena-BJP rule from 1995-99. His father Balasaheb Vikhe Patil too, was the state finance minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet. During the same period, one of his institutions received a leeway of Rs 100 crore in its electricity bill. Even now, Balasaheb Vikhe Patil believes that Congress should have extended support to BJP. In this context, if Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil becomes the opposition leader, it will merely mean a car with a red beacon to the man. He has never raised questions affecting the common man. On the contrary, he is known as a feudal leader in the sugar belt. It will be a tragedy if a person like him becomes the opposition leader.
There might be a paucity of a quality opposition leader now, but Maharashtra has a rich history of opposition leaders. Before the inception of the state, in the 1957 elections, the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement’s MLAs were elected in large numbers and SM Joshi became the leader of the opposition. In 1960, when Maharashtra came into being, Chief Minister YB Chavan categorically invited Joshi for the procession. During the whole parade, Joshi and Chavan, stood beside each other and saluted the crowd from an open jeep. The importance of an opposition leader can be best explained by Chavan’s statement. The government and opposition are two wheels of the same car, he used to say.
After Joshi, Uddhavrao Patil and Krishnarao Dhulap too, shone in the assembly. From 1980-85, Sharad Pawar was the leader of the opposition, who had exposed AR Antulay’s corruption scandal. Pawar may not be an activist politician but he knows exactly how to manoeuvre files. He forwarded the cement corruption files to Mrinal Gore and she took it up intensely. Later on, she became the opposition leader as well. Her career is one of the golden chapters in the history of the state assembly. After Assembly debates on weekdays, she used to tour the state on weekends. Therefore, Monday would always be followed with a sense of anticipation, where people wondered what issue she would raise at the start of the week. The issue of rotten food grains distributed on ration card was discussed in the Assembly during her tenure. In the legislative council, GP Pradhan made a notable contribution as well. The 90s was Gopinath Munde’s time. His sangharsh yatra against criminalisation in politics capsised the Sharad Pawar-led Congress government. From 1995-99, Chhagan Bhujbal took up that role and kept the government on its toes as an opposition leader. The Ramesh Kini scandal was exposed in this tenure. Anna Hazare’s agitations forced four ministers to resign and Bhujbal had conveyed the mood among the electorate impressively in the assembly.
Sadly, even in a magnanimous mood, one cannot be completely generous towards the opposition leaders of the last 15 years. Ramdas Kadam was known as the anti-chamber opposition leader and as an opposition leader, there is a laundry list of benefits that he reaped from the government. Eknath Khadse started on the right note, but after his son-in-law got involved in the credit society fraud, he too, moved away from the track. Vinod Tawde’s stint in the legislative council was not too different.
Maharashtra today, is desperately looking for a credible government and impressive opposition. Drought, farmers' suicides, toll, irrigation, LBT and so on. There is no shortage of issues in Maharashtra. The government has changed but the people are still in a quagmire. There is a desperate need for an opposition leader who can echo their sentiments in the assembly. Is anyone out there?