On Bal Thackeray's mind: Cong-bashing or heir worries?

Mumbai: The buzz around this year’s Shiv Sena Dussehra rally, dwelt less on Congress and minority-bashing and was found to be somberly hovering around the ailing Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s health and its possible implications on the future of the Sena in Maharashtra. The concerns thickened with Thackeray’s absence from the venue, Shivaji Park, which is a few kilometres away from the Sena chief’s residence Matoshree. Unlike previous years, a visibly unwell Thackeray addressed the crowd in a pre-recorded video message beamed in a giant screen set up in the park. [caption id=“attachment_502036” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bal Thackeray. PTI.[/caption] A chunk of Thackeray’s address, apart from the usual political innuendos, was reported to be reflections on the passage of the Sena in Maharashtra and its future after him. According to a report published in the Mumbai Mirror, Thackeray seemed to be stepping back to push son Uddhav Thackeray and grandson Aditya to the limelight. The Mumbai Mirror quotes, “I have been the Shiv Sena chief for 45 years. I can’t take this much further. You have taken care of me for so many years. You are taking care of Uddhav. Now take care of Aditya as well.” His failing health, got more than just a passing mention in the rally. While Thackeray himself repeated that age doesn’t permit him to be at the helm of the party anymore, the crowds too seemed to be taken up by his absence and his ill-health. The Sena patriarch said that he could not address his party workers directly on Dussehra, as has been his custom for the past several decades, because he had “physically collapsed”. “I am not even able to walk,” he said. “I have to breathe hard while speaking.” And the Mumbai Mirror mentions how the speech was delivered ‘uncharacteristically’ with ‘folded hands’. With that same, unmistakable sense of resignation the Sena supremo also mused over the evolution of the party and the ultimate rift it saw. While he didn’t name Raj Thackeray in his speech, he did wonder aloud what might have led to the split of the Sena. The Mumbai Mirror mentions that he spoke ‘almost fondly’ of his nephew. “This is the Dadar where the Shiv Sena started. And this is the Dadar where we now have two Senas. How did this happen?” he said. While it’s too early to consider this as a baby step to reconciliation, Thackeray also urged the “Marathi people” to “come together and give a blow to the Congress”. Given that everything from publicity posters and events for some time now have been routinely focussing on 22-year-old Aditya Thackeray, also the president of the student’s wing of the party, this could be a signal for a bigger role for the Thackeray heir in the party now. Also since Uddhav shone elaborately late in politics, the senior Thackeray seemed to be pooling in all the support he could for his grandson who seems to have made a timely splash. However, Thackeray didn’t forget taking pot-shots at his adversaries - the Congress and the NCP during his 25-minute speech. He said that politics has been taken over by a ‘gang of five’ -  Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka, Robert Vadra and her Political Secretary Ahmed Patel. “Panch-kadi (gang of five) should be destroyed and thrown out of the country,” he said. The country has become “a nation of cheaters”, he said, without elaborating. With inputs from PTI