In June 2016, Raj Thackeray celebrated his 48th birthday by cutting a cake that had the photograph of MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on it. While the Hyderabad MP himself chose not to react to it, many in the MIM saw it as an expression of Thackeray envy. In the 2014 assembly elections in Maharashtra, the MIM had contested 24 seats and got two MLAs elected. In contrast, Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena exhibited a dismal strike rate, contesting 220 seats but winning just one.
Thackeray thanks to his roots in the Shiv Sena and image as a Hindu leader, has been deemed to be in the saffron camp. Though not part of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, Thackeray with the MNS penchant to indulge in moral policing and launch physical attacks on migrants from Uttar Pradesh, has never been part of the Congress-NCP political ethos. At least not officially.
In fact, Thackeray had praised the Modi government in Gujarat in 2011 and was a guest at Modi’s swearing-in as chief minister the following year. Five years ago, he had backed Modi’s candidature for the top job, mocking Rahul Gandhi in the process.
The Owaisis were always in the opposite camp. Both Asaduddin and brother Akbaruddin spare no effort to ridicule Modi at public meetings, including during the recent campaign in Telangana. In fact, in terms of polemics, courting controversy and the ability to work the crowd, Thackeray and Akbaruddin Owaisi are mirror images of each other. Except that the content is completely different.
But now in what is the irony of Indian politics, Thackeray and Owaisi find themselves on the same page. Thackeray has done an U-turn from his 2014 position and is asking the electorate to reject Narendra Modi. Demonetisation is a favorite ammunition to mount an attack on the Modi regime, both in his speeches and cartoons.
“Throw these people out of politics by kicking their backside. I want to request you Maharashtra, we will have to save India from this duo Modi and Shah. Don’t waste your vote this election, vote wisely, vote decisively,” said Thackeray at a public meeting in Dadar in Mumbai.
Thackeray has been on the offensive at other places too, backing Rahul Gandhi for 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.
“What bad Rahul Gandhi can do by becoming Prime Minister? Narendra Modi has crossed all limits with his worst administration,” he says.
You would think Thackeray is campaigning for his MNS candidates but no, his party is not even in the fray. Thackeray does not even endorse candidates of any party lest he be accused of having cut a deal with the Congress or the NCP.
As a result of this realignment, both Owaisi and Thackeray now find themselves in the `B’ category. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has accused the Congress of using the MNS on rent during the election campaign. The BJP has taken to targeting Thackeray demanding that the expenditure on his public meetings should be added to the Congress-NCP account.
The label of being the `B’ team of the BJP has stuck to Asaduddin Owaisi ever since he quit the UPA. He is dismissed as a “Hyderabad ke ek mohalle ka leader”, questioned why he fielded candidates in the Bihar and UP assembly elections when he did not have an organisational structure in those states. He is accused of being sponsored by the BJP and called a secular vote cutter. He has responded by citing instances where the Congress lost even when the MIM did not contest and questioning whether the grand old party alone is the repository of secularism in India. In his book, Owaisi says he is the `A’ team.
Interestingly, both Raj Thackeray and Asaduddin Owaisi will be leaders to watch out for post 23 May. If the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance does not get good numbers in Maharashtra denting Modi’s second term in office, Thackeray will be seen as a significant contributory factor. The Maharashtra assembly elections then could see the MNS gaining in political strength.
Owaisi is Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s fellow traveller who aims to ensure a Federal Front government is in power in Delhi. And if things do work out that way, Barrister Owaisi could even become Minister Owaisi.
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