Devendra Fadnavis Had Every Right to Form Government in Maharashtra

Between choosing the high moral ground and the practical path, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose the practical one by aligning with Ajit Pawar. To blame the BJP for not choosing the moral high ground while giving a clean-chit to others for playing dirty politics is nothing but hypocrisy.

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Sharad Pawar prevails. Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress have managed to stich an alliance to hold on to power. But the criticism is still reserved for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Whatever the scenario, the outrage and criticism is always reserved to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Between choosing the high moral ground and the practical path, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose the practical one by aligning with Ajit Pawar. It was practical because Devendra Fadnavis had the popular mandate of the state on his side. It was practical because the Shiv Sena (SS) used an opportunity to blackmail the BJP. It was practical because the SS chose to betray the mandate given by the people of Maharashtra. It was practical because the SS chose to betray its pre-poll alliance partners. It was practical because the BJP was the single largest party. It was practical because it got double the mandate than any other party. It was practical because even Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combined got lesser seats than the BJP alone. It was practical because the people of Maharashtra gave a record 70 percent of BJP candidates the mandate to form a government.

To blame the BJP for not choosing the moral high ground while giving a clean-chit to others for playing dirty politics is nothing but hypocrisy.

Democracy is messy. Politics is messier. But those who are blaming the BJP for aligning with Ajit Pawar are either unaware of our history or are suffering from selective amnesia. In fact, many of those criticizing the BJP for not choosing the moral high ground are actually ardent champions of the opposition’s politics. These champions of morality have never voted for the BJP and will never ever vote for the BJP, but still expect the BJP to be the custodian of all political morals and values while its opponents are allowed to indulge in all kinds of politics under the garb of forming “stable governments” and for the “welfare of the state and its people”.

Shiv Sena

Remember that Shiv Sena’s birth itself was aided by the Congress. Back in the 1960s it was the Congress which fueled the Shiv Sena to gain a foothold in the trade unions which were till then dominated by the Communists, arch enemies of the then Congress. The Congress in spite of being in the government in Maharashtra as well as the Centre remained a silent spectator while violence between Shiv Sena and Communists kept on increasing, finally resulting into diminishing the Communists influence. Shiv Sena reciprocated this favor by supporting Indira Gandhi’s emergency and by supporting Congress leaders in BMC and Legislative Assembly elections. Shiv Sena’s love for the Congress was so strong that it resulted in the Shiv Sena being mocked as “Vasant Sena”, the army of Vasantrao Naik, the then Congress leader. Later, to get its member elected in Mumbai mayoral polls, the Sena even went to the extent of aligning with its ‘arch enemy’ – The Muslim League. In fact, Sena supremo even shared a stage with Muslim League leaders at a rally in South Mumbai. Bitterness between the Congress and the Shiv Sena grew after the death of Indira Gandhi. Then onwards, the Congress and the Shiv Sena became fierce political rivals. Shiv Sena supremo, Balasaheb Thackeray equated the Congress to the disease – cancer. He had gone as far as saying that it would be better to hand-back India to the Britishers than being ruled by Sonia Gandhi. Today we see his Shiv Sainiks taking an oath and swearing loyalty towards the same Sonia Gandhi. Is this moral, ideological or is this unethical?

From backing Congress candidates in presidential polls to not fielding any contender against NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule to even tying up with ideologically opposite Muslim League, the Shiv Sena has had a history of flirting with opposition.

Governor of Maharashtra administers the oath of office to Sharad Pawar as Chief Minister in Bombay after he led a rebel group and toppled Maharashtra government

Nationlist Congress Party

NCP supremo, Sharad Pawar’s ‘dhakka tantra’ (shock therapy) is world famous. In a cloak-and-dagger power struggle for the post of Chief Minister, Sharad Pawar, in 1978 walked out with 38 Congress MLAs, toppled his own Congress government led by Vasantdada Patil, and formed a new government. Shalini Patil, widow of Vasantdada Patil terms this move as an “act of betrayal and stabbing in the back”. After toppling this Congress government he then returned back to lead a Congress led government in 1990. By this time SS was a fierce enemy of the Congress. In spite of being a friend of SS supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and Balasaheb had become political rivals. Around 1999, Balasaheb called Sharad Pawar a “scoundrel” and vowed that he will never go along with a scoundrel, whoever he may be. Such was the political rivalry between these two friends. Earlier, Sharad Pawar had engineered a split in the SS by poaching the godson of Balasaheb Thackeray, Chhagan Bhujbal. No one questioned this political opportunism back then, it was just “political activism”. In 1999, Sharad Pawar revolted against Sonia Gandhi over her foreign origin, spilt the Congress party and formed a party of his own, the NCP. Today, Sharad Pawar is a close ally of Sonia Gandhi. Another important coup by Sharad Pawar was in 2012. Pawar served a huge blow to the BJP leader, late Gopinath Munde, by poaching his nephew, Dhananjay Munde. In spite of such huge ideological differences, none of these “coups”, “betrayals”, “poaching” were criticized, but were in fact celebrated as masterstrokes of the “Maratha Strongman”. What was once legitimized by the media and the BJP opponents, is today being portrayed as an unforgivable sin by the BJP. Were these actions moral, ideological or were they unethical?

Congress

Congress and moral politics are parallel things, commenting on Congress’ immorality will make volumes of books. Be it the imposition of emergency or encouraging separatism for political gains, allegations against the Congress are not just that they are politically immoral, but that of illegality and of serious security threats to the Indian nation and us as its citizens. The arrests of political leaders, toppling of governments in majority by imposing President’s rule, locking up their own party president in a bathroom, refusing their own Prime Minister’s mortal remains an entry into the party office, the Congress’ Gandhi family has done anything and everything to gain power. The shamelessness to seize power is so much that they are now aligning with Uddhav Thackeray, who threatened to pull out Rahul Gandhi’s tongue if he dared speak against Swatantryaveer Savarkar. Today, the son of Uddhav Thackeray has gone to invite the same Rahul Gandhi and his family for the swearing ceremony of Uddhav Thackeray. Is this moral, ideological or is this unethical?

So now, will the Congress insist a Bharat Ratna for Veer Savarkar or will SS desert him? Will the NCP no more orchestrate any more defections from the SS to make their party strong or will Shiv Sena be a tamed ally at the mercy of the NCP? Will the SS be able to cure the cancer of these scoundrels or will they all become soul-mates? Today, the only ideology the SS has is that it wants their man to be the Chief Minister. The only ideology the Congress-NCP has is to keep the BJP out of power. But the onus to maintain political morality lies on the BJP.

Rahul Gandhi was seen supporting people who presided over events where ‘Pakistan zindabad’ and ‘Bharat ki barbadi tak, jung rahegi jung rahegi’ slogans were raised.

Related: Devendra Fadnavis: The Political Yogi

BJP was severely criticized for aligning with Ajit Pawar by its non-supporters as well as its supporters. What happened in Maharashtra, what is happening in Maharashtra and what will happen in Maharashtra is truly disgusting. Was the mandate given by Maharashtra for Cong-NCP + SS or was it for the BJP led Yuti? It is the SS that has ditched the BJP and that has ditched the mandate. We should indeed strive for a moral political scenario, but to single out BJP for being “immoral” only endorses and legitimizes its opponents and their actions.

To expect the BJP to be a party of helpless saints and sadhus while opponents wreak havoc being rakshasas will hurt none but the BJP supporters and the nation. Moral politics matters, ideology matters. Both these values should be an intrinsic part of any political party. But morality and ideology is useless if you can’t win electoral battles. Could the BJP have been able to abrogate Article 370 had they been in the opposition? Could the BJP have been able to abolish the medieval practice of Triple Talaq had they been in the opposition? Could the BJP have been able to authorize the surgical strikes had they been in the opposition? They couldn’t have! But why did the previous governments not take these decisions in spite of having decisive mandates? Because they did not have the moral and ideological commitment of the BJP. BJP could do all these things only because they had the moral and ideological commitment and were able to form a government.

After 2014 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Sharad Pawar had offered unconditional external support to the BJP government which was falling short of majority. No immorality questions were raised back then. I don’t believe that any BJP supporter or for that matter any BJP leader, including Devendra Fadnavis would have been delighted about an alliance with Ajit Pawar or the NCP. Let us accept the truth – it was pure politics. One may call it “political opportunism” or a “compromise”, but at the end it was politics. To accept a political heir you have been critical about all your life is a huge risk. But the BJP still took that risk. Was this risk worth it? – Yes! Was it morally right? – No! Was it politically correct? – Yes!

Not every political compromise needs deviating from one’s morality or ideology. If BJP didn’t compromise with a three decade old ally, why does one assume that they would with any political rival? Just like in real life, in politics as well – no one is perfect! It is indeed a big win for the BJP that of all political parties, it is the only party that is expected to uphold Ram-rajya level of ethics. But in that case, when you have so less expectations from the BJP’s opponents, it is impractical and self-defeating to expect the BJP to stay out of the government and still do all the things they can, if in government.

The BJP had and has every right to be a part of the government. In fact, BJP owes it to its voters to explore all possibilities in which it can lead a government. It is therefore imperative that the BJP remains in the government, to uphold political morals, to stick to ideologies, to take us away from caste and religion politics and to take the nation forward on its path of progress and development.

Tags: Devendra Fadnavis, Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Maha Vikas Aghadi, Maharashtra