Mumbai: The Congress is furious with its ally, the Shiv Sena (UBT), since the latter’s MLC Milind Narvekar has openly applauded the demolition of Babri masjid. In a post on the social media X (formerly Tweet) Narvekar, who is also a long-term personal assistant to his party chief Uddhav Thackeray, quoted the late Bal Thackeray as stating that he is proud of those who demolished the masjid.
For good measure Narvekar included a picture of the demolition and also photos of himself, Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray. The post was to mark the 32nd anniversary of the demolition which was followed by massive communal riots in Mumbai and other parts of the country. The post has exposed a major faultline in the MVA. It won’t be surprising if the Congress decides to pull out of the MVA.
Senior MLA of the Congress Amin Patel told the FPJ n Saturday that the X post was not in keeping with the coalition dharma and was most unacceptable. He said the matter will be taken up at the highest level of the Congress.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Arif Naseem Khan said it was shocking that Narvekar was openly applauding those who carried out the demolition. “Uddhav Thackeray should immediately clarify whether he agreed the post. I will escalate the matter with my party leadership. The Shiv Sena (UBT) cannot be a part of the MVA and yet adopt the line of the BJP.”
Spokesperson of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Atul Londe said “our alliance with the Shiv Sena (UBT) was based on a common minimum programme aimed at ousting the BJP and defending the Constitution. We do not believe in the politics of religion.”
However, it is learnt that the Congress leadership is under pressure from the rank and file to snap ties with the Shiv Sena (UBT). Their fear is that the party will not get votes of Muslims in the elections to the BMC which may be declared any day now and this will adversely affect its poll prospects.
According to sources, Narvekar, who is the Man Friday of Uddhav Thackeray, would not have done the controversial X post without the concurrence of his boss. The post appears to be a part of the party’s efforts to reclaim the Hindutva agenda which was heavily compromised because of its alliance with the Congress and the NCP (Sharad Pawar).
The Shiv Sena (UBT) benefited in a big way during the Lok Sabha elections when Muslims supported it and other MVA allies. However, this fact was highlighted by the BJP during the assembly election campaign. The BJP accused the Shiv Sena (UBT) of appeasing the Muslim bank a la the Congress.
BJP-inspired social media was very active in the run up to the assembly elections in portraying the Shiv Sena (UBT) as another version of the Congress which has often been accused of pandering to Muslim interests in the name of secularism.
BJP supporters pointed out that Uddhav even felt shy of calling his father Bal Thackeray “Hindu Hriaday Samrat” lest he lose Muslim votes. The BJP also highlighted the fact that when the Wakf Amendment Bill was introduced in Parliament Shiv Sena (UBT) members were conspicuous by their absence.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) is afraid that if the narrative about the party being pro-Muslim is continued then it will have to pay a heavy price in the BMC elections. With an obvious effort to counter that narrative it appears to have asked Narvekar to go ahead with the controversial post.
“Narvekar wont dare do anything without the endorsement of Uddhav. So his X post appears to have been done with the full knowledge of Uddhav,” a Sena source observed. Despite the raging controversy neither Uddhav nor Aaditya, who is the second most important leader in the party have distanced themselves from Narvekar’s controversial post.
