Family Feint

In Maharashtra’s endlessly theatrical politics, the prospect of a Thackeray reunion makes for irresistible drama. Uddhav Thackeray, the beleaguered chief of the Shiv Sena (UBT), and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray, the equally beleaguered head of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), have signalled a willingness to mend fences. Each said he was prepared to put aside ‘minor differences’ for the greater good of Maharashtra. It sounded magnanimous. It also sounded suspiciously convenient.

Raj Thackeray, speaking on a podcast, made the first overture, declaring that for him Maharashtra’s interests trumped personal disputes. He offered to work with Uddhav, with the thinly veiled challenge whether the latter was ready to work with him. Uddhav responded in kind - but with conditions. Raj, he warned, must shun forces that were ‘anti-Maharashtra,’ a euphemism for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Sena (UBT)’s chief adversary.

The cousins’ feud dates back nearly two decades to 2005, when Raj quit the Shiv Sena after Uddhav, with their uncle Bal Thackeray’s blessing, was elevated over him. Raj’s formation of the MNS in 2006 was a public declaration that he would not serve under Uddhav’s shadow. That rift, personal and political, has shaped the trajectory of Maharashtra’s regional politics ever since.

Today, both cousins are diminished figures with their political fortunes at an all-time low. Uddhav, forced out of office by a BJP-backed coup, has lost both the chief ministership and the official Sena party symbol. Raj’s MNS, after early bursts of populist success, has shrivelled into an afterthought after having tried every coalition. The BJP’s dominance has left the once-powerful Thackeray name battered. Against this backdrop, talk of unity is less a stirring call to Marathi pride than a grim calculation for survival.

The real obstacle to a reunion is not ideology but ego. The fundamental question that drove them apart remains unresolved: who will lead? Raj, still bristling with a charisma Uddhav never quite matched, appears unwilling to subordinate himself. On Uddhav’s side, the emergence of his wife Rashmi Thackeray as a political strategist and son Aaditya Thackeray as heir apparent complicates any equation that might allow Raj a prominent role.

In short, both men want a reunion, but on their own terms. Sanjay Raut, Uddhav’s lieutenant, put a brave face by calling the Thackeray bond ‘permanent’ and hinting that Maharashtra would welcome a united front against the BJP’s encroachments. A joint Thackeray force could re-energize the Marathi vote and disrupt the BJP’s plans to further hollow out Maharashtra’s regional parties. But such a union would require rare self-effacement from two leaders whose careers have been defined by wounded pride.

Past experience suggests caution. The Thackerays are experts at creating public spectacles of rapprochement without following through. Temporary truces have often collapsed under the weight of old grievances and competing ambitions. If Uddhav and Raj truly wish to salvage their relevance, they must not only reconcile but reinvent themselves for a new political era.