The Shinde Sena’s coup, with or without Operation Lotus, taught many lessons. Discontent must be addressed, not snubbed. And loyalty is a written undertaking, no longer a “taken-for-granted” entitlement.
Eknath Shinde decide to rebel with close to 40 Sena MLAs. That not only brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra but also stripped the Thackeray sheen from the Shiv Sena. Hence, going forward, the Shiv Sainiks aka Thackeray Sena will be required to to submit “loyalty affidavits” or pledges in writing.
The loyalty pledge must be sent in by Tuesday. The rule applies to all across the party lines. Starting with upshakha pramukhs (deputy branch heads) to top of the line leaders. Sena leaders were seen busy on Saturday, collecting as many affidavits.
The move is being seen as a pre-emptive step to prevent the Shinde camp from making further claims on the Sena party organisation. “The matter is still in the court. This will prevent numbers growing in the Shinde camp” reasoned a legal resource close to the Sainiks. He added: “This party is different from the party now in the legislature. Our party symbol is registered with the EC. Many conditions have to be fulfilled to get recognition as a political party and get the party symbol, including polling a certain percentage of votes in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. The way the Shinde camp is going, it is clear they will soon go after Sena’s core organisation, which is the shakha network.”
The loyalty affidavit asks Sainiks to pledge “loyalty to the Sena constitution, Bal Thackeray and party president Uddhav Thackeray.”
It reads: “I repose full allegiance and faith in the constitution of Shiv Sena party. Also, there is unwavering devotion to the ideals and principles laid down by the venerable Hinduhridaysamrat Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray. I have firm faith in Shiv Sena party president Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership and I lend my unconditional support. I express my full allegiance to Uddhav Thackeray and reaffirm this allegiance and testify that under his leadership I will always work to achieve the objectives set out in Shiv Sena’s constitution.”
According to Sena functionaries, officially the up-shakha pramukhs are headed by shakha pramukhs (branch heads) and up-vibhag pramukhs (deputy zonal heads) and they in turn are led by vibhag pramukhs (zonal heads). “All pledges have to be submitted to vibhag pramukhs, who will submit it at the Shiv Sena Bhavan. We have already collected over 100 affidavits in our area,” shared a functionary from Mumbai’s western suburbs.
Sena has around 227 shakhas in Mumbai, and each shakha has at least two up-shakha pramukhs and one shakha pramukh. A similar organisational structure has been set up across the state. It maybe recalled that the Congress required similar affidavits from the newly elected MLAs post the Bengal Assembly elections in 2016. The rest, as the say, is history.
Also Read: Uddhav Thackeray: Uneasy Lies The Head That Wears The Crown
