The Shiv Sena, which was founded by Bal Thackeray (centre) in 1966, turned 60 on June 19. The party has weathered several challenges during these six decades.
At 60, Shiv Sena battles its biggest survival crisis; will the tiger roar again?
Decades after Bal Thackeray dominated Maharashtra politics, a hegemonic BJP has seized the Hindutva plank, leaving both fractured Sena factions with uncertainty
Founded by one of India’s fiercest political voices, Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena turned 60 on Friday (June 19). The journey over six decades has not been easy for the outfit, which got split into two factions in 2022 following an implosion.
Also read: Operation Tiger buzz: Why Uddhav's Sena is bracing for tough days | Capital Beat
One of them, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), led by the late patriarch’s son and former chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, is facing an acute existential crisis, particularly around the time when the party is observing its 60th anniversary.
The other one, Shiv Sena, led by Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde, though got the party’s original symbol, the bow and arrow, it has nevertheless remained in the shadows of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Sixty years of Shiv Sena - The 3 big phases
♦ Phase 1: The Bal Thackeray era (1966-2012): The party started as an anti-communist, Marathi-pride movement, initially targeting South Indian migrants. It utilized aggressive street politics and strikes to secure jobs for locals. In the late 1980s, the Sena shifted its ideological base to hardline Hindutva. This cemented a long-standing political alliance with the BJP, enabling them to win power in the Maharashtra.
♦ Phase 2: Era of shifting alliance (2012-22): Following Bal Thackeray's death in 2012, leadership passed to his son, Uddhav Thackeray. Under Uddhav, the party recalibrated its stance, eventually breaking ties with the BJP in 2019 and joining the Congress and undivided NCP.
♦ Phase 3: The 2022 split and current landscape (2022-26): In June 2022, senior leader Eknath Shinde orchestrated a massive revolt, taking the majority of MLAs with him. This toppled the Uddhav Thackeray government and resulted in Shinde becoming chief minister in an alliance with the BJP. After the 2024 state polls, Shinde became the deputy CM in the government of Devendra Fadnavis.
Once dominant position
During the years when Bal Thackeray (1926-2012) was alive, the Sena dominated Maharashtra politics despite being a regional ally of the BJP. He was virtually an “elder brother” in the ruling coalition in Maharashtra that featured the Sena and the BJP, who had never assumed any official charge and remained a "kingmaker". The undivided Sena gave the state three chief ministers, although none of them could get an entire five-year tenure.
Sena, in fact, grew from a regional movement for Marathi rights to a political force that reached New Delhi.
Things started to change after Narendra Modi became prime minister and the BJP gained steam across the country. With the senior Thackeray gone by then and Uddhav taking over, ties between the two started deteriorating, despite both professing Hindutva roots. Their alliance broke just after the 2014 Assembly polls in Maharashtra, and despite a brief patch-up, the relations never recovered, especially under Uddhav, and were finally called off after the 2019 state polls.
The break-up proved costlier for the Sena as less than three years after the alliance ended, the party itself got divided into two factions with Eknath engineering a rebellion against the leadership of Uddhav, who had joined hands with the Congress and the undivided Nationalist Congress Party to form government in 2019.
Revolts in the past
It is not that the Sena experienced a revolt for the first time in 2022. From Chhagan Bhujbal to Ganesh Naik to Narayan Rane to Raj Thackeray (he walked out and formed his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) it had faced many such occurrences in the past, but none matched the consequence of the one that happened four years ago.
Also read: Another Sena breakaway? Six MPs push Uddhav to the brink
Eknath, who rose from the ranks of the Shiv Sena, had then walked away with 39 MLAs and 13 MPs. Subsequently, his group got the party’s name and symbol as well.
The beginning of the journey
The Sena was formed by Bal Thackeray, popularly known as Balasaheb, a cartoonist and son of social reformer Keshav (Prabhodhankar) Thackeray, who championed the cause of the ‘Marathi manoos’, or the Marathi-speaking population of Maharashtra.
Grass is grey on both sides
♦ The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray, is facing an acute existential crisis. It has neither a symbol, nor BMC, nor the original Sena name.
♦ The Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde holds the name and symbol, but remains in the shadows of the BJP.
He made the Sena a force to reckon with in Maharashtra, particularly in Mumbai, with Shiv Sainiks earning a reputation as street-level activists who fiercely championed the party’s causes. He had even said once that his party tolerated the BJP in Maharashtra only because of Hindutva and warned that the patience was not unlimited.
The late Thackeray, many believe, had shielded Mumbai from the influence of the underworld. However, there are also those who accuse the man of promoting his own brand of militant vigilantism.
Both factions face challenges
A PTI report quoted political analyst Hemant Desai as saying that both factions, especially the Shiv Sena (UBT), headed by Uddhav, confront a tougher challenge than Bal Thackeray faced in his lifetime. “Bal Thackeray did not live in the time of a hegemonic BJP, but both Sena factions are currently living in that era,” he said.
However, the Uddhav-led group is staring at a much bigger crisis, Desai said.
With only 20 MLAs, the Shiv Sena (UBT) may be the biggest party in the Opposition camp in the Maharashtra Assembly, but the Shinde-led Sena has nearly three times as many legislators in the House.
Also read: Shiv Sena reunion on the cards? BJP’s growing clout sparks calls for unity
The undivided Sena helmed by Thackeray controlled the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for an uninterrupted 25 years, from 1997 to 2022. The party’s hold over the civic body ended in 2022 when the tenure of corporators came to an end. In the next civic elections conducted in early 2026, the BJP installed its mayor in the corporation.
The silver lining
Desai also said that there is a silver lining in the crisis faced by the Uddhav-led faction. It can start afresh, though that would require tremendous efforts, especially from Uddhav’s son and heir apparent, Aaditya Thackeray.
Shinde has been in power since 2014, first in the Devendra Fadnavis government and then in the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, later as chief minister from 2022 to 2024, and as deputy chief minister since 2024. For the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the challenge will begin once there is tightening of the noose over finance, Desai said.
Political analyst Sanjay Kumar, a professor at the Delhi-based Centre for Developing Studies and Societies, has been quoted as saying in the PTI article that the relevance of the two Sena factions needs to be viewed from the context of regional parties. Data indicates that the relevance of both factions has reduced in terms of vote share.
Referring to the split in the undivided Shiv Sena headed by Thackeray, Kumar said his group is staring at another split and did not seem to take its cue from the Trinamool Congress, whose Lok Sabha MPs formed a separate group and later merged with the Nationalist Congress Party of India.
'Uddhav's Sena in bigger trouble'
“Uddhav faction is more prone to getting into deeper trouble as it is not in power,” Kumar said.
He further said that while the Sena (UBT) is set to lose six MPs, the sheer magnitude of loss in Assembly elections has a direct impact in terms of the number of MPs a party sends to the Rajya Sabha. This also affects the party’s share in national politics, he said.
Kumar said the Sena (UBT) not only faces issues with leadership, but also an ideological crisis as the BJP has “snatched” its Hindutva plank.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena is likely to remain relevant for some time as the BJP still does not command a complete majority in the state elections, he said.
“Slowly and gradually, the Shinde-led Sena is moving towards losing relevance just like the JD(U) in Bihar,” Kumar added.
The Sena has completed six decades since its foundation, which is by no means a small feat. But given the way it has survived over the last few years, with a serious cannibalisation (as the buzz around “Operation Tiger” suggests) and falling a distant second to the BJP in its home turf, one might not feel too hopeful about the party’s future.