Dec 11, 2024 08:29 PM IST
The quintessential Marathi manoos thus suffers from a sense of loss and alienation as a jubilant Mahayuti begins its tenure
The poll grand slam in Maharashtra will certainly warm the cockles of the BJP’s heart; but the phenomenal Vidhan Sabha tally raises several issues which the BJP strategists need to address before getting down to the nitty-gritty of governance in Mantralay, the seat of administration, in south Mumbai. Any plan by the BJP to tweak Maharashtra’s socio-cultural agenda, the Maharashtra dharma, which transcends creed and caste, will trigger tension in the Mahayuti alliance and shatter the state’s inclusive character. For a start, the BJP’s central leadership needs to give up scanning Maharashtra through its North-centric lens.
Deeply ingrained in the state’s cultural consciousness, the hoary Maharashtra dharma has been deepened by medieval saint-poets; the multiple sampradays — for instance, the Nath and the Varkari sect which preached harmony and compassion, the fiercely fought Maratha-Mughal wars, and the 20th-century social crusades which culminated in the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti’s prolonged struggle in the 1950s to create a separate linguistic state for Marathis with Mumbai as its capital. The Samiti leaders were miffed with Jawaharlal Nehru for his proposal to turn Bombay (as the city was then known) into a Union territory. The confrontation assumed the proportions of an epic Maratha-Mughal war. History has its own way of getting into the hair of contemporary politics.
Replacing Maharashtra’s multiple deities — Khandoba, Vithoba and Goddess Ekveera, for instance — with Lord Ram, and thrusting “Ek Rashtra, Ek Bhasha” credo on a state which has its own robust Hindi lingo in Marathwada and Vidarbha, is fraught with risk. Amidst poll fever, Ajit Pawar had stated publicly that he wouldn’t endorse Yogi Adityanath’s “Batenge toh katenge” call. Maharashtra’s culture wouldn’t accept the UP CM’s catchphrase, he said. A senior state BJP functionary said that his party would soon saffronise Pawar. Such brazenness is scary.
Shorn of rhetoric, the BJP policy planners need to do some good homework on Maharashtra. For instance, Lord Ram, a Great Unifier, cuts a swathe across castes and communities in the North, but not so down the Vindhyas. Maharashtra is culturally inclined more to southern India than the Indo-Gangetic plains. Sammat Vichar, scholar Vishwanath Khaire’s well-researched tome, discusses in detail the specifics of the Maharashtra-Tamil Nadu cultural and linguistic ties. Many local deities of Maharashtra have their counterparts in, say, Karnataka or Andhra. In fact, Maharashtra’s pluralistic culture resembles “godhadi”, a quilt which offers warmth to a farmer on a cold night.
Second, although a Congress stronghold for decades, Maharashtra’s inner core resonated with left-socialist ideals, thanks to Jnaneshwar and Tukaram’s egalitarian poetry. And, the state has for long nursed deep suspicion for New Delhi rulers — “Dillishwar” (the Delhi bosses) was the term Balasaheb Thackeray coined to rile the Congress high command. The BJP runs the risk of earning the sobriquet if it doesn’t gear itself up to decipher the nuanced Marathi ethos.
With the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faring poorly in the assembly polls, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, both Marathas, may well emerge as regional satraps and strong votaries of the Maharashtra dharma. Both are aware of the fact that in their attempt to expand their politico-electoral space, they may at some point in time have to stand up to the “Dillishwars”. The duo will do it with a sense of deja vu.
Instances of the Congress high command humiliating Maratha stalwarts such as Yashwantrao Chavan, Vasantdada Patil and Sharad Pawar are numerous. However, Indira Gandhi never tampered with Maharashtra’s cultural fabric. Back then, the “Dillishwars” kept Maharashtrians happy with small mercies.
The BJP does attempt to flaunt its regional stripes but in a manner which is plainly ad hoc. For instance, in the recent state assembly elections, the BJP, in a bid to bond with the sons of the soil, wrested the Shivaji myth from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. A Shivaji bust was installed in party offices and BJP poll rallies would begin with “Jai Jai Jai Bhavani”, the Maratha war cry during medieval times. However, the jamboree would invariably end with “Jai Shri Ram”, and the paradox was too obvious for the Marathi-speaking BJP workers who are weaned on Maharashtra dharma.
The quintessential Marathi manoos thus suffers from a sense of loss and alienation as a jubilant Mahayuti begins its tenure. Poet Arti Prabhu has succinctly summed up the Mumbaikar Marathi’s dilemma: “Kunachya khandyavar kunache ojhe?” (On whose shoulder lies whose burden?)
Ambarish Mishra is a Mumbai-based writer.The views expressed are personal
Get Current Updates on…
See more
