Shinde, Uddhav Groups To Battle Over Legacy Inheritance With Dussehra Rallies Today

The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will hold Dussehra rallies in Mumbai on Tuesday to demonstrate their might, news agency PTI reported. Since the Shiv Sena split in June last year, the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray and the Shinde faction, which gained the party name and emblem, have been at odds about who is the actual heir to founder Bal Thackeray’s legacy. While Uddhav Thackeray will address his party’s Dussehra gathering at the enormous Shivaji Park in Dadar, where Bal Thackeray has whipped up his workers with his fiery oratory for more than four decades, Shinde’s rally will be held at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.

Like last year, there was some uncertainty about who would be in charge of the demonstration in Shivaji Park.

The two demonstrations are especially significant since Lok Sabha elections are just a few months away, and civic elections in various cities, including Mumbai, have been scheduled since early 2022.

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The Thackeray group has published various video excerpts of Bal Thackeray’s remarks in the run-up to the rallies, particularly those emphasising the necessity for action against defectors. Shiv Sena (UBT) workers have widely disseminated these.

The Shinde group’s rally teasers, on the other hand, feature Bal Thackeray’s speeches in which he has vehemently advocated for Hindutva.

While the Uddhav Thackeray side has continuously dubbed members of the Shinde faction “traitors,” the latter alleges the former chief minister abandoned the BJP coalition and joined forces with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party after abandoning Hindutva.

The Shiv Sena split in June of last year when Shinde and many MLAs defected and brought down Uddhav Thackeray’s Maha Vikas Aghadi cabinet. Shinde then established a cabinet with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s backing.