Uddhav Thackeray is writing a new story for Maharashtra in 2024. He has found his voice

When Uddhav Thackeray took the dais and began his speech, the ground was enveloped in a hushed silence. The janta straightened in their chairs and listened to him with rapt attention and earnest seriousness. The crowd roared when he talked about the ‘Maharashtrachi asmita’, or the pride of Maharashtra; they hooted, whistled, and clapped when he thundered against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There was fire in his belly, animation in his speech, and eloquence in his Marathi as he pointed out the wrong from the ‘politically right’.

On 30 April, I saw a Uddhav at the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) rally in Pune on the eve of Maharashtra Day, who did not seem like the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader I had read about in newspapers or seen on television. From afar, you and I saw a lacklustre politician — a subdued, gentle soul who was expected to take charge with the same tenacity and political rigidness as his father, Bal Thackeray, the supremo of Maharashtra politics.

In 2012, when Uddhav Thackeray took over the Shiv Sena after the death of his father, he did not seem equipped to handle the political manoeuvring required for greatness. He appeared a misfit to navigate and rise to the challenges and ugliness of the new age politics. An affable personality, with the demeanour of a shy schoolboy, his charm was seen as politically incorrect. Uddhav was assumed to carry the ‘bow and arrow’ along the path set by Bal Thackeray. But he was ruled out, cut into pieces, and caged in the same bracket as Rahul Gandhi: a reluctant politician, an oddball to the tenacious legacy.

The debacle of Maharashtra 2022 gave rise to a new Uddhav Thackeray—he has now dropped the ‘charm’ and gone full-throttle offensive.

Roaring pride

During the MVA rally in Pune, I saw Uddhav become the spirited and precocious neta (politician). Sharing the stage with the maharishi of Indian politics, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav’s aura was as invincible as Pawar’s. Neither the heat of the sun nor that of politics had affected him. He didn’t seem tired. With the same affable demeanour intact, Uddhav exuded confidence, being jhakaas (awesome) with his political rhetoric and bindaas (carefree) despite the soaring political heat.

Uddhav was the last speaker of the evening, and the crowd stayed until the very end to listen to him. Young boys and girls, office-going men, and mothers sat through dinnertime, all just to listen to him. Eloquently thundering in Marathi, Uddhav said all the right things. He took a dig at Modi over his ‘bhatakti aatma’ (wandering soul) remark against Sharad Pawar—he called the Prime Minister a dissatisfied soul. He used all the right elements, the right words to jeer at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Modi to entertain the crowd and compel them to think.

The last time I saw such emotion among the janta, an organic, genuine desire to listen to a neta, was in 2014 when Modi forayed into national politics. Contrary to the opinions of the political intelligentsia and the drawing-room journalists, the support I observed for Uddhav on the ground, in his rallies, wasn’t ‘sympathy support’ for mashaal (the flaming torch election symbol of Shiv Sena-UBT). Rather, it is Uddhav’s political rhetoric, his daring attitude, and his politically rapturous personality that has made inroads into the minds and consciences of the Maharashtrians, just like Modi did in 2014.

It has been positively proven that personality matters in politics.

Many Shiv Sena critics and political naysayers had predicted the end of the party after Bal Thackeray’s death. But Uddhav Thackeray managed to hold the party together and led its transformation into a mature political outfit from its earlier avatar as a party of street fighters. Similar predictions floated after 2022 when Eknath Shinde got control of the name and symbol of Shiv Sena and also became the chief minister. But Uddhav has proved everybody wrong. After weathering the political storm that engulfed him, he has become an authoritative, powerful leader. And in the ongoing elections, he is riding the political wind with astute brilliance.

Uddhav has not changed his personality to resemble the angry young man, nor has his tone or basha (language) become cruel. But you can sense the hurt, the dhoka (betrayal), which has made him a spirited politician, crowd puller, and a firebrand on whose wind the MVA is gaining crescendo. And the 63-year-old Uddhav too seems to be enjoying himself, for he looks more relaxed, freer. He is brimming with confidence, which is neither haughty nor arrogant.

In this election, Uddhav Thackeray has shown his political mettle, the transcendent quality, that he too is a political warrior. He has figured out the art of political combat, showing zeal for the causes he believes in, and stepping out of the shadows which once obscured his political astuteness. He is painting his own legacy, holding the mashaal, leading the morcha (movement), and reconnecting with the people, and not relying on sympathy.

Cashing on local politics

Maharashtra has always been a progressive state that prides itself on its culture. Bordering Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, and serving as a gateway to the South, the state has become a crossroads of cultures and tongues, crushed between the sea and mountains and soaked in harsh sunlight and heat. Here, the Maratha culture and pride intertwine intricately with haute cuisine, modern art, and fashion. With the rise of an ambitious new generation from outside Maharashtra alongside its own, the region has become a hotbed for new politics to rise.

In 2019, the BJP managed to overpower the Shiv Sena by winning 23 seats, while the latter won 18. In the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha election, however, all dynamics have changed. Maharashtra has become a challenging state for Modi’s BJP. After broken parties and families and the takeover of old cadres by new leaders, a vacuum for a seductive campaign rooted in local politics emerged. It’s a void that Uddhav is brilliantly cashing on.

He has become a reminder – the mashaal of the powerful social dynamics at work – of the stirring of anxiety, hate, and conspiracy, the deep-seated strain of reactionary nationalism, which threaten to outpace the ‘Maharashtrachi asmita’. Uddhav is telling the people that he understands them and their woes. He is reminding them that an outsider with a “fake” educational certificate is calling their Shiv Sena “nakli” (fake).

In North India, there has been the rise of an ‘angry Hanuman’ and aggressive Hindutva, where Modi’s politics is propelling the politics of opposition to adopt hardcore Hindutva; in Maharashtra, though, Uddhav is going beyond the ideological labels of his father. He wants his Shiv Sena to not only be a staunch Hindu party, but also an inclusive one.

Regardless of the outcome on 4 June, the 2024 polls will be remembered as the election of Uddhav Thackeray. The drama of 2022 has galvanised him and he is writing a new story for himself and Maharashtra. Uddhav has found his political voice and prowess, and is creating his own cult and distinct legacy while maintaining his affable qualities.

Shruti Vyas is a journalist based in New Delhi. She writes on politics, international relations and current affairs. Views are personal.