Mumbai: Amid controversies and challenges, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government has completed half of its five-year tenure. The Thackeray government’s most significant achievement so far has been its survival – against a strong opposition and a hostile Central government, say political observers.
After the BJP refused to share the chief minister’s seat after the 2019 assembly elections, the Shiv Sena dramatically walked out of the saffron combine to join hands with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress to form a coalition government in November 2019. Though many felt the coalition government would not last long, it has now reached the half-way mark of its five-year tenure. The period also saw unprecedented events like a raging pandemic and a bitter political tussle between MVA and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With the civic polls coming up in a couple of months, this tussle is expected to become even more bitter. In this melee, governance and delivering promises made by the ruling parties are issues that seem to have taken a backseat.
Within a month after coming to power, Thackeray announced that farm loans of up to ₹2 lakh taken before September 30, 2019, would be waived. Besides the farm loan waiver scheme of the state government, the MVA government has so far not commissioned any major flagship project or a showpiece infrastructure project in the state. The pace of the ongoing project, which was mostly commissioned in the previous BJP-Sena government, has slowed down due to various factors.
In March 2020, three months after coming to power, the three-party government was up against an unknown global crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic. A major chunk of the first half of the MVA government was spent on tackling this pandemic. The Thackeray government holds the handling of the pandemic as its major achievement, given the size and scale of the cases in the state. Till date, the state has recorded close to 8 million cases and over 147,000 deaths.
Uddhav Thackeray, who took up the job without any prior experience of being in government, gained popularity through his candid addresses to the people during the first and second waves of Covid-19. Though Maharashtra has been the worst affected by the pandemic, the state’s handling of the pandemic has been appreciated by the courts and citizens alike. The opposition BJP has, however, been accusing the government of hiding the real toll and has also slammed it for alleged mismanagement.
“The performance of the MVA government needs to be seen in two phases,” said a senior NCP functionary, who did not wish to be named. “The first two years went in a pandemic which the state has handled well compared to other states. Even in the post-pandemic phase, MVA is doing better. Though it has not come up with any new major infrastructure project, it has continued work of ongoing projects even during the pandemic. The Metro-3 line is an exception, it is stuck owing to the differences over the location of the car shed.” The MVA government also lacked a showpiece or signature work of governance or legislation to boast of, though this could be attributed to the disruptions caused by the pandemic. The poor public visibility of the chief minister was also a matter of concern.
A senior Congress leader said the government lasting for two and a half years was a “miracle”” given the onslaught from the Centre and BJP. “The very fact that this government has lasted two-and-half years is a miracle of sorts… this inability to dislodge us has led to the BJP attacking us through its proxies like the Rana couple,” noted the senior Congress leader.
“The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have something in common, but the Shiv Sena is an outlier in this eco-system. The government was formed in a set of extraordinary circumstances… and has managed to hold its own despite the onslaught of the union government and the BJP,” he explained.
The Congress leader, however, said the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition’s Achilles heel was its failure to set a narrative and its poor perception management, which saw it being unable to take credit for even any pro-people decisions.
Political observers also point out that the BJP has kept up its onslaught thereby not allowing the MVA partners to focus on governance. “The BJP has raised several issues in the last 2.5 years to keep the MVA occupied,” said Surendra Jondhale, a political analyst. “Right from the social media campaign in the Sushant Singh Rajput case to raising questions on Sena’s Hindutva, to central investigating agencies targeting key leaders and MVA ministers, the MVA has been on the backfoot.”
The MVA government has been battling a series of controversies with two of its ministers – Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik – going behind bars. Several ministers, key leaders, family members and relatives of MVA leaders have faced action from central agencies. Thackeray’s brother-in-law Shridhar Patankar’s properties were attached provisionally by ED, Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s family and friends are being probed, Ajit Pawar’s relatives saw I-T department raids, Anil Parab’s properties were raided by ED on Thursday.
Despite these, the MVA’s political performance has been good, feels an NCP minister, who did not wish to be named. “It has scuttled all the plans of the BJP to create communal tension with the loudspeaker-at-mosques issue,” the minister added.
The state, according to the ruling MVA, continues to be attractive to the business community. During the first wave of coronavirus infections, the state had signed several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with various companies worth ₹16,000 crore. The state has also inked MoUs worth ₹80,000 crore in the World Economic Forum in Davos, a statement from minister Aaditya Thackeray’s office said.
NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said the MVA came to power under extraordinary circumstances but has managed to give a stable government to the people.
“Despite numerous attempts to destabilize the current dispensation, MVA maintained its stability and became united against the BJP’s propaganda. The state was gripped by a pandemic for two years. Owing to the financial constraints, the state could not take up any new major projects, because health and safety of the people was our priority,” Tapase said.
On the political front, the three parties have still not decided if they want to stick together for the crucial local body election, the next Lok Sabha, and assembly elections. The civic polls scheduled to be held later this year will show if the coalition has support on the ground.
Political analyst Abhay Deshpande said that considering all the odds, managing to survive is itself an achievement for this coalition government. “Completing half of the term when claims were made that this government won’t survive a year is an achievement in itself. Maintaining its Hindutva ideology and running a coalition government along with Congress was a challenge before Shiv Sena but they successfully came out with inclusive Hindutva, which is different from the hardline Hindutva of the BJP,” Deshpande said.
With barely two years to showcase his government’s performance, considering six months will go by in holding various elections, Thackeray’s slog overs begin now.