Bal, Raj and Uddhav

In the Shiv Sena's traditional stronghold, many are excited about the breakaway formation headed by Bal Thackeray's nephew Raj – even if they don't know exactly what the new party stands for. There is something about conflict among kin that keeps history engaged, and often bitter. The Mahabharata, for example, is nothing if not a story of epic battle between cousins. Egos may drive such conflicts, but their spoils have always been political. In Bombay today, two cousins, Raj and Uddhav Thackeray, have their horns locked in combat. At stake is the militant legacy of Bal Thackeray – Raj's uncle, Uddhav's father, and the founder of the Hindu-nationalist Shiv Sena. Inevitably, the politics will be titillating; but what about the battlefield, the heart of Bombay? Is the Shiv Sena losing its grip over Dadar, the area of the city that has been its stronghold for years? And is the Marathi urban middle class finally shifting loyalties? The answers to these questions may well define the trajectory of Maharashtra's politics, and Bombay's future.

But first, a brief foray into the past. In the late 1960s, Bal Thackeray built his political party, the Shiv Sena, out of a rabble-rousing lot of disgruntled Maharastrian youth. As the appeal of Maratha parochialism weakened, the party moved towards militant Hindu nationalism. After a lacklustre performance in electoral politics and a base confined to Bombay during the 1970s and early 1980s, in the following decade Thackeray's leadership saw some gains in civic elections. The Sena expanded its political base to the Konkan, Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra. In 1995, it formed the state government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).