An accurate analysis of the civic polls in Maharashtra would be that family fiefdoms of the Thackerays and the Pawars have been routed by a dominant Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP snatched the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation — the proverbial icing on the municipal cake — as well as the Pune Municipal Corporation from their former First Families — the Thackerays and the Pawar clans, respectively. Significantly, Ajit Pawar, who had split Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party to join hands with the BJP, had fought this battle as part of the clan; Uddhav and Raj Thackeray had come together too in Mumbai. The rest of Maharashtra’s municipalities echoed those of Mumbai and Pune, with the BJP winning 1,425 out of a total of 2,869 seats. The municipal poll outcome, therefore, mirrors that of the assembly elections. With its regional rivals, including its allies — the factions of Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde — weakened, the BJP is now Maharashtra’s decisive political force. Devendra Fadnavis could well claim credit for this rich harvest. Heavy investments in mobilisations on the ground, organisational prowess, a focus on civic issues along with a subtle consolidation of Hindutva to offset the subnational push of the Thackerays helped Mr Fadnavis and his party paint Maharashtra saffron. Now that the political battle is done, the BJP will have to wage the more important war: resolving civic challenges. Mumbai epitomises some of these, with its massive crisis in affordable housing, chequered sanitation, air pollution, infrastructure adaptability bottlenecks, stodgy governance, to name a few.
Numbers, though, often do not tell the complete story. It is true that the Shiv Sena, now a splintered entity, has lost its grip on Mumbai. But a closer reading would show that the performance of the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Mumbai has retained some sparks. In spite of the defections and a lighter organisational weight, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena retained its hold in segments of Mumbai. The Thackerays will take heart from a campaign that relied heavily on Marathi identity as well as on an emotive chord and use these elements to try and regain lost ground. But would that benefit the Opposition? Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar have cut sorry figures for themselves. They not only have to battle the burden of betrayal in the public mind but also a dominant BJP that only has practical utility for its allies. Further developments in Maharashtra’s politics cannot be ruled out.