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New Delhi, India – India’s richest state swore in new prime minister and his deputy prime minister a day after the previous incumbent was forced to resign, experts say orchestrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) It put an end to what the house called 10 days of intense political drama.
Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena party, who led a rebellion with dozens of fellow MPs that sparked a crisis in the West Indies, was sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister in a ceremony in the state capital Mumbai on Thursday. . It is also the financial capital of India.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnabis of the BJP, who effectively managed the division in Shiv Sena, was sworn in on Shinde’s behalf.
Shinde was rewarded for his rebellion by the BJP, but the right-wing party had more MPs in the state legislatures than his rebel camp.
The development comes after Shiv Sena chief Udda Vu Thackeray stepped down as prime minister on Wednesday night, minutes after India’s Supreme Court asked him to take a floor test to prove his majority on Thursday. It happened the day after the announcement was made on Facebook live.
Thackeray has been running a coalition government with the centrist National Congress Party (NCP) and parliamentary parties since 2019, one of the most unlikely alliances in Indian politics.
The Shinde government was asked to prove a majority in the state legislature on Monday, with Thackeray MP Shiv Sena submitting a petition to the Supreme Court to disqualify at least 16 opposition lawmakers.
Currently, the BJP has 106 members, the Sib Sena has 55, the NCP has 53, and the parliament has 43 members in a parliament of 288 members. The coalition needs 144 votes to stay in power.
The changing of the guard in Maharashtra will give the Hindu nationalist BJP a sizable boost ahead of the 2024 national elections, which it hopes will lead to a third straight victory for Modi.
Maharashtra has the highest number of MPs in the Indian parliament after the BJP-controlled state of northern Uttar Pradesh.
Zoya Hasan, a political analyst and former professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera that “taking control of Maharashtra is a really big win for the Modi party.” rice field.
“The overthrow of the Uddhab Thackare regime in Maharashtra is a major setback for the opposition as Maharashtra is a very important state. It is the financial capital of India and one of the most industrialized and developed states in the country,” he said. she said.
10 days of political drama
Maharashtra’s political crisis began on the night of 20 June when Shinde, 58, announced an uprising against Thackeray and left Mumbai with 29 other members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).
The rebels were taken to a five-star hotel in Surat, an industrial city in neighboring Gujarat. This state is home to Modi since 1995 he is ruled by the BJP. Modi served as chief minister for 12 years before becoming prime minister in 2014. .
In India’s so-called ‘resort politics’, legislators often move to resorts and hotels to prevent horse trade during political crises in the state.
On June 21, Sib Sena supreme leader Sanjay Raut claimed that the rebellion was orchestrated by the BJP to overthrow the Thackeray government, as many BJP leaders met with parliamentarians in Surat. However, the BJP denied this.
From Surat, the Sib Sena rebels were airlifted to a luxury hotel in Guwahati on 22 June, 2,588 km (1,608 miles) away. This Guwahati is another major city in northeastern Assam, another of his BJP-ruled states.
In Guwahati, the chief minister reportedly visited rebels at a hotel, and another minister told reporters the opposition MLA was being treated as a “state guest”.
On the evening of 22 June, Thackeray said he was ready to resign as prime minister if the recalcitrant MPs so wished. He even left his official residence and moved into his parents’ house as thousands of his supporters marched in motorcades and carried his slogans.
Meanwhile, in Guwahati, the number of Shiv Sena rebels increased to 39, enough to split the party and ensure Thackeray’s removal from office. Then again it was time for him to move to another BJP-controlled state.
So they came to Goa two days ago where they joined up with some independent MLAs.
In Mumbai, Fadnabis met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshari on Tuesday, claiming the Thackeray government had lost its majority.
Thackeray resigned the next day. But the seeds of the current political crisis in Maharashtra were already sown in 2019.
Democracy needs a strong opposition, but the ruling party is not very enthusiastic about it. Leave the strong opposition alone. I would rather have an India without opposition.
What happened in 2019?
Both the BJP and Shiv Sena have said they are traditional allies because they support the Hindu supremacist political movement ‘Hindutva’. Both parties have fought and won numerous state and national elections as coalition partners.
Thackeray, 61, is the son of one of India’s most controversial politicians, Bal Thackeray, who founded Shiv Sena in 1966 on the back of the region’s Maratha pride. For decades, the party has targeted immigrants in Maharashtra as it built its voter base on localized xenophobia.
But things changed after the 2019 elections in Maharashtra, where the BJP and Shiv Sena once again joined forces. The BJP won the highest number of seats, but Sibsena insisted on his 50/50 power-sharing formula, which included rotating the prime minister’s post.
Bolstered by a crushing victory in the national elections just a few months ago, the BJP rejected Sib Sena’s demands and hastily sworn in Fadnabis as prime minister.
However, without Thackeray’s support, the BJP government could not prove its majority in parliament and Fadnabis was forced to resign.
Thackeray, meanwhile, has found a new partner. The NCP and Parliament (both considered “secular” parties) joined to form Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Analyst Hasan said the BJP was the largest single party in Maharashtra, but three other parties had formed an alliance.
“Since day one, the BJP has tried many times to get rid of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. ” he added.
“This was done to strengthen Shinde’s hand in keeping his faction behind him and to strengthen his claim to be the real Shiv Sena,” Hasan said.
“personal desire”
One of the main charges against Thackeray by the rebels was that Thackeray opposed its core “Hindutva” ideology and allied itself with two secular parties.
Thackeray told reporters on Friday that there would have been no MVA government in Maharashtra if the BJP had agreed to his demands in 2019.
“Regarding yesterday’s events, I have also previously told Amit Shah that he should serve as Prime Minister Shiv Sena for 2.5 years. “Let’s go,” he said.
The Shah, who is currently the Federal Interior Minister, was the 2019 BJP President.
BJP lawmaker Rakesh Sinha told Al Jazeera that the fall of the Thackeray government was due to Shiv Sena’s “internal contradictions”.
“People with ideological and emotional ties to Hindutva rebelled in a very healthy way. It’s about standing firm to free ourselves from the clutches of political factions,” he said.
But journalist and political analyst Arati R Jerath is not convinced. She told Al Jazeera that the Shinde-led rebel group had been part of her coalition for nearly three years.
“Suddenly they discovered the roots of Hindutva,” she said. “It seems to be motivated by personal greed rather than ideological ones.”
Jealous said it was “an honor” for Shinde and the rebels to step down and “return to the people and ask for re-election”.
“Instead, they fled, took private planes to resorts, were aided, aided, and instigated by the BJP,” she said. “This is not how democracy works.”
“Resort politics are impossible unless you’re ready to spend a fortune buying an MLA or MP,” says Jerath.
Referring to the BJP, analyst Hasan said, “Kicking out the government by such means is undermining democracy.”
“Democracy needs a strong opposition, but the ruling party is not very keen on having an opposition. ”
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