Against whom is MNS waging this?

SHIV SENA is now waking up after having been shaken up from the bottom. The old tiger is actually afraid of losing its hold on the Marathi manoos, the concept that was brought into existence by Shiv Sena and now is being used more aggressively by its newest rival, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Raj Thackeray, who chose to leave Shiv Sena in January 2006, founded his own party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the month of July in the same year.

Having started his political career with Shiv Sena, all that Raj Thackeray had witnessed was indeed the Marathi manoos agenda! Some might have an argument that there wasn’t any need for him to stick to the same agenda, but they need to understand here that this was the agenda that had given him the identity he carried with himself. And it is very difficult to reestablish yourself in politics, especially when you have just broken off from one of the major players in your region.

Shiv Sena had not recovered from the sufferings of the Lok Sabha elections when came another shocker for the party. Maharashtra assembly results were more than insulting for a party like Shiv Sena that had managed to keep its hold intact in Maharashtra. MNS is said to have been the cause of Shiv Sena’s loss in at least 28 constituencies, plus the 13 seats that MNS won and the scenario would have been different if Raj would have been with Shiv Sena adding another five to seven seats to Shiv Sena’s account. So, the sum total would have been somewhere close to 90.Yes, Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party could have had a chance of coming to power and keep the Congress-National Communist Party alliance from their hat trick. But what happened was a nightmare for Shiv Sena.

Like any other party, Shiv Sena was searching for that one opportunity to show it to the people that the Marathi manoos agenda is still its property. And, none other than the master blaster was its first target.

Sachin completed 20 years of cricket. A pride to all Indians, this God of cricket said that he plays for India, not for Maharashtra or Mumbai...said that he is proud of being a Maharashtrian and a Mumbaikar, but is an Indian first…and said that Mumbai is for all.

For us, it is perfectly fine, isn’t it?

But for Shiv Sena, who was just searching for a chance to show its presence, this was the golden opportunity. Bal Thackeray, the chief of Shiv Sena advised Sachin not to lose what he has achieved on the cricket pitch in an attempt of playing on the political pitch. ‘Stay out of political conflicts’ is what Bal Thackeray means.

This agenda of fighting for Marathi manoos is now taking a weird turn in which one can see people fighting with Marathi manoos himself. Against whom is this war being called up? And for whom?

Both these political parties might or might not gain what they want out of this agenda, but the Marathi manoos is not gaining anything for sure.