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Trouble for Uddhav

Trouble for Uddhav

Given his inept handling of COVID-19, both his coalition allies and the BJP are keen to make him the fall guy

True leadership is tested when a crisis such as the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic leaves you desperately looking for answers and clutching at any straw in the wind. Except in politics, it is not about finding answers but asking questions of those who can be blamed. And so it is that the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition Government in Maharashtra is in trouble as it seems to be fast losing its grip on containing the viral spike, which is the highest in the country and amounts to 30 per cent cases nationwide. With a monolithic leader, there is at least a semblance of a man/woman being in charge and good or bad, he/she mostly manages to override scrutiny. But when you have somebody as vulnerable as Uddhav Thackeray, then the barbs keep flying thick and fast. Needless to say that the Shiv Sena chief got the Chief Minister’s chair with zero administrative or grassroots experience by parting ways with a bossy State BJP and choosing the ideologically divergent National Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress. He did get to form a coalition Government but the wily Maratha warrior and NCP chief Sharad Pawar ensured that he cornered key Ministries and called the shots in the alliance, being its architect. The Congress, too, got some but as a C-team was never interested in making itself felt in governance. Battling such internecine pressures and keeping his numbers, with an unforgiving BJP smelling the slightest opportunity to topple him, Thackeray Junior may have fulfilled his father’s dream of a Shiv Sainik being the Chief Minister but has been nothing more than a paper tiger. Yet, by virtue of being the face of a Government, he also has exposed himself to being the fall guy. And now that Maharashtra emerges as a COVID hotspot that seems to be spiralling out of control, he is desperately mobilising resources to manage the public health crisis while the BJP keeps on pointing out his flaws daily. In fact, the Shiv Sena may have historically controlled the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) but has nothing to show for its clout there in times of COVID-19. If anything, the BMC is struggling to contain the virus and the Sena itself is hopelessly out of depth as numbers of the sick keep increasing by the hour. This has partly got to do with the Sena’s inexperience in governance. It has always been the “remote control” of power and with the BJP taking the lead in its earlier coalitions, has never had to bear the brunt of decision-making. Neither has it tapped into the administrative depth of Pawar or the Congress. And realising that this bad PR could backflush on them, his ruling allies are not too happy either, with Uddhav desperately reassuring them. So much so that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi intemperately forced a crisis, saying while the party could speak for COVID management in States ruled by it, in Maharashtra it was not a party to decision-making. Though Pawar stepped in to dispel fears of serious dissension within the coalition Government, the fact is some Ministers and legislators have been deeply disapproving of Uddhav’s functioning and reliance on fossilised bureaucrats. He doesn’t have the aura of his father, Bal Thackeray. Besides, Thackeray senior didn’t have to combat a crisis such as this. So Uddhav is not only expected to deliver but come up with a practical and implementable plan in the current context. For years, the public health infrastructure in Mumbai has been neglected to accommodate private players, which aren’t willing to lead the fight against the dreaded disease, leaving it to the already crumbling Government hospitals. The Sena has promoted many of these private facilities but they are not delivering for Uddhav. Besides, the Chief Minister has badly bungled the migrant exodus compared to his counterparts in other States. In fact most returnees from Mumbai have unanimously said that the Maharashtra Government didn’t care about their food and shelter and had just let them loose without any compassion. And to complicate matters, now that the Sena’s old and nativist constituencies like the Dharavi slums, whose dwellers service the economy of Mumbai, are under a viral siege, Uddhav has no manas left to back him up. With such a hydra-headed attack, he naturally seems the easiest man to take the fall.

So what’s in it for the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis? For a leader of the single largest party, who has some confidence of the people on the basis of his past performance, this is the most opportune moment to reclaim his relevance. And now that he has former Shiv Sena Chief Minister Narayan Rane with him in the party, he met Governor BS Koshyari and sought President’s rule in the State on the pretext of ensuring better COVID management. Rane, who accompanied him, sought Army intervention to arrest the slide in Mumbai. Besides, Fadnavis is projecting himself as a BJP leader who can renegotiate Centre-State relations better and get things moving for an aggressive containment strategy with Central resources. He is leveraging the “one party in State and Centre” logic to wangle a better relief package for the State. The only question is the morality of Operation Lotus as the city heaps its dead.

(Courtesy: The Pioneer)

Trouble for Uddhav

Trouble for Uddhav

Given his inept handling of COVID-19, both his coalition allies and the BJP are keen to make him the fall guy

True leadership is tested when a crisis such as the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic leaves you desperately looking for answers and clutching at any straw in the wind. Except in politics, it is not about finding answers but asking questions of those who can be blamed. And so it is that the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition Government in Maharashtra is in trouble as it seems to be fast losing its grip on containing the viral spike, which is the highest in the country and amounts to 30 per cent cases nationwide. With a monolithic leader, there is at least a semblance of a man/woman being in charge and good or bad, he/she mostly manages to override scrutiny. But when you have somebody as vulnerable as Uddhav Thackeray, then the barbs keep flying thick and fast. Needless to say that the Shiv Sena chief got the Chief Minister’s chair with zero administrative or grassroots experience by parting ways with a bossy State BJP and choosing the ideologically divergent National Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress. He did get to form a coalition Government but the wily Maratha warrior and NCP chief Sharad Pawar ensured that he cornered key Ministries and called the shots in the alliance, being its architect. The Congress, too, got some but as a C-team was never interested in making itself felt in governance. Battling such internecine pressures and keeping his numbers, with an unforgiving BJP smelling the slightest opportunity to topple him, Thackeray Junior may have fulfilled his father’s dream of a Shiv Sainik being the Chief Minister but has been nothing more than a paper tiger. Yet, by virtue of being the face of a Government, he also has exposed himself to being the fall guy. And now that Maharashtra emerges as a COVID hotspot that seems to be spiralling out of control, he is desperately mobilising resources to manage the public health crisis while the BJP keeps on pointing out his flaws daily. In fact, the Shiv Sena may have historically controlled the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) but has nothing to show for its clout there in times of COVID-19. If anything, the BMC is struggling to contain the virus and the Sena itself is hopelessly out of depth as numbers of the sick keep increasing by the hour. This has partly got to do with the Sena’s inexperience in governance. It has always been the “remote control” of power and with the BJP taking the lead in its earlier coalitions, has never had to bear the brunt of decision-making. Neither has it tapped into the administrative depth of Pawar or the Congress. And realising that this bad PR could backflush on them, his ruling allies are not too happy either, with Uddhav desperately reassuring them. So much so that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi intemperately forced a crisis, saying while the party could speak for COVID management in States ruled by it, in Maharashtra it was not a party to decision-making. Though Pawar stepped in to dispel fears of serious dissension within the coalition Government, the fact is some Ministers and legislators have been deeply disapproving of Uddhav’s functioning and reliance on fossilised bureaucrats. He doesn’t have the aura of his father, Bal Thackeray. Besides, Thackeray senior didn’t have to combat a crisis such as this. So Uddhav is not only expected to deliver but come up with a practical and implementable plan in the current context. For years, the public health infrastructure in Mumbai has been neglected to accommodate private players, which aren’t willing to lead the fight against the dreaded disease, leaving it to the already crumbling Government hospitals. The Sena has promoted many of these private facilities but they are not delivering for Uddhav. Besides, the Chief Minister has badly bungled the migrant exodus compared to his counterparts in other States. In fact most returnees from Mumbai have unanimously said that the Maharashtra Government didn’t care about their food and shelter and had just let them loose without any compassion. And to complicate matters, now that the Sena’s old and nativist constituencies like the Dharavi slums, whose dwellers service the economy of Mumbai, are under a viral siege, Uddhav has no manas left to back him up. With such a hydra-headed attack, he naturally seems the easiest man to take the fall.

So what’s in it for the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis? For a leader of the single largest party, who has some confidence of the people on the basis of his past performance, this is the most opportune moment to reclaim his relevance. And now that he has former Shiv Sena Chief Minister Narayan Rane with him in the party, he met Governor BS Koshyari and sought President’s rule in the State on the pretext of ensuring better COVID management. Rane, who accompanied him, sought Army intervention to arrest the slide in Mumbai. Besides, Fadnavis is projecting himself as a BJP leader who can renegotiate Centre-State relations better and get things moving for an aggressive containment strategy with Central resources. He is leveraging the “one party in State and Centre” logic to wangle a better relief package for the State. The only question is the morality of Operation Lotus as the city heaps its dead.

(Courtesy: The Pioneer)

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