Finally sanity prevailed and the old friends are back together. I would call it more of a marriage than friendship The events in past few months resemble those of warring couple and not friends, with bloated egos , calling names ,prolonged negotiations besides the ‘third’ party involvement ! . I wouldn’t want to define who the husband and wife are lest, my otherwise gender neutral friends (at least in theory) will pounce on me! Also, we may not want to go into details of this ‘induced’ sanity since the first question that would be asked is, why not earlier? Even assuming that it was RSS who pushed for it on ideological grounds, the question still would be – why not earlier? Or is it that real politick scores over ideology?
Anyways it’s good to see the Shiv Sena and BJP together. The happiest person would be Mr. Devendra Phadnavis . He may at least get to sleep without the fear of getting a phone call in the middle of night, informing that the ‘nonexistent’ outside support has been withdrawn! So hopefully he should look at a longer tenure now. For the people, it means a fair amount of stability. May not translate into ‘acche din’ immediately .That train is yet to start from Delhi. Some say it has started. Either ways, will take time to reach Mumbai! But in the interim, you at least get to enjoy the daily local trains and the metro! , not to mention a less eventful (in the house at least!) winter session.
So do we have a winner? No, but we certainly have the losers! For the BJP, the high was getting more seats than what the Shiv Sena was offering. So certainly they scored a point. The low was to realize that they really do not have an alternative, not in the present context at least and having being required to negotiate and agree with the Shiv Sena. For the Sena, it was a series of lows, starting with BJP winning close to majority seats (well you feel bad if you fail in the exams. But you feel like sh*t when you fail and your friend stands first!) But ended up in a high with them getting a significant number of ministerial births-ignoring, the nitty-gritty of the portfolios, they were insisting on. Effectively a zero sum game for both the parties- so far at least! For the people, it is a positive thing since, we are looking at a (relatively) prolonged stability. I feel the real losers are the diehard fanatics (cyber fanatics- that’s the word) on either side, who went about bashing the other as if there was no tomorrow! So what happened to your thoughts and emotions? Are the fans disillusioned? If so (well, for that you need to stop being a fanatic, momentarily at least) it’s a lesson – politics of convenience plays over everything else!. Bear that in mind! Others – They will unabashedly go about the business of justifying, how the alliance had to be saved in the name of religion! , conveniently ignoring what was forwarded and publicized by them during the past few months. Carry on guys, that’s all I can say!
So what does it mean in a long term? Hard to say. BJP has certainly set the cat among the pigeons by attempting to go alone in the state. Besides its attempts in other states to expand the sphere of influence will certainly make the Sena wary. The BMC elections in 2017 will see the next chapter of this story unfold. So obviously the alliance (not sure if we should call it that) in its new form is nowhere its earlier avatar- will never be. It is an alliance of opportunity and convenience, no matter how much the fanatics proclaim it to be based on ‘ideology’ or friendship! BJP will try to use the stability to further strengthen the organization, besides providing ‘good governance’ whenever possible! Shiv Sena on its part will look for making the most of its participation in the government, strengthen the organization and wait for the wave to die down to prove a point or two ( if they still feel the need).
What about Sharad Pawar and co.? Well let’s wait and see what comes out of the magician’s hat!
As for the common people, I am reminded of the stanza from the song in 3 Idiots
"Murgi ka jaane ande ka kya hoga ,
Life milegi ya tawe pe fry hoga,
Koi na jaane apna future kya hoga
Honth ghuma, seethi baaja Seethi baaja ke bol
Bhaiya All is well”
Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra and Jai Bhim.
Anyways it’s good to see the Shiv Sena and BJP together. The happiest person would be Mr. Devendra Phadnavis . He may at least get to sleep without the fear of getting a phone call in the middle of night, informing that the ‘nonexistent’ outside support has been withdrawn! So hopefully he should look at a longer tenure now. For the people, it means a fair amount of stability. May not translate into ‘acche din’ immediately .That train is yet to start from Delhi. Some say it has started. Either ways, will take time to reach Mumbai! But in the interim, you at least get to enjoy the daily local trains and the metro! , not to mention a less eventful (in the house at least!) winter session.
So do we have a winner? No, but we certainly have the losers! For the BJP, the high was getting more seats than what the Shiv Sena was offering. So certainly they scored a point. The low was to realize that they really do not have an alternative, not in the present context at least and having being required to negotiate and agree with the Shiv Sena. For the Sena, it was a series of lows, starting with BJP winning close to majority seats (well you feel bad if you fail in the exams. But you feel like sh*t when you fail and your friend stands first!) But ended up in a high with them getting a significant number of ministerial births-ignoring, the nitty-gritty of the portfolios, they were insisting on. Effectively a zero sum game for both the parties- so far at least! For the people, it is a positive thing since, we are looking at a (relatively) prolonged stability. I feel the real losers are the diehard fanatics (cyber fanatics- that’s the word) on either side, who went about bashing the other as if there was no tomorrow! So what happened to your thoughts and emotions? Are the fans disillusioned? If so (well, for that you need to stop being a fanatic, momentarily at least) it’s a lesson – politics of convenience plays over everything else!. Bear that in mind! Others – They will unabashedly go about the business of justifying, how the alliance had to be saved in the name of religion! , conveniently ignoring what was forwarded and publicized by them during the past few months. Carry on guys, that’s all I can say!
So what does it mean in a long term? Hard to say. BJP has certainly set the cat among the pigeons by attempting to go alone in the state. Besides its attempts in other states to expand the sphere of influence will certainly make the Sena wary. The BMC elections in 2017 will see the next chapter of this story unfold. So obviously the alliance (not sure if we should call it that) in its new form is nowhere its earlier avatar- will never be. It is an alliance of opportunity and convenience, no matter how much the fanatics proclaim it to be based on ‘ideology’ or friendship! BJP will try to use the stability to further strengthen the organization, besides providing ‘good governance’ whenever possible! Shiv Sena on its part will look for making the most of its participation in the government, strengthen the organization and wait for the wave to die down to prove a point or two ( if they still feel the need).
What about Sharad Pawar and co.? Well let’s wait and see what comes out of the magician’s hat!
As for the common people, I am reminded of the stanza from the song in 3 Idiots
"Murgi ka jaane ande ka kya hoga ,
Life milegi ya tawe pe fry hoga,
Koi na jaane apna future kya hoga
Honth ghuma, seethi baaja Seethi baaja ke bol
Bhaiya All is well”
Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra and Jai Bhim.
1 comment:
Nicely put !
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