Comparing Maharashtra Elections to Game of Thrones: BJP as Lannisters, Sena as Baratheon

It’s the game of thrones battle in Maharashtra. It was a big win for Maharashtra. The election results yesterday showed BJP won 42 percent of the seat share, Shiv Sena won 22 percent seat share, Congress won 15 percent and the NCP got 14 percent. The contest is between five major parties - the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. The Maharashtra election battle reminds us of HBO’s Game of Thrones and the five major houses. Take a look: [caption id=“attachment_1566419” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Who will be the King?[/caption] Shiv Sena = House Baratheon: The motto of the house is “Ours is the Fury”, much like the Shiv Sena. And, probably it was the’fury’ that led to the break up between the party and its 25-year-old alliance partners, the BJP. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackrey held Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence responsible for the break up. “When the alliance broke, Narendra bhai could have also done. He did nothing,” CNN-IBN quoted Uddhav Thackrey as saying. Thackeray said that the reason for the break up was BJP’s assumption that the Shiv Sena has become weak. “Had Balasaheb have been alive, they wouldn’t dare to do it,” he added. Uddhav’s quote reminds us of King Robert Baratheon–one of the greatest rulers in Westeros. After Robert Baratheon’s death, there was rift within the house and became divided. BJP= House Lannister: Cersei Lannister, the eldest child of Tywin and Joanna Lannister were married to Robert Baratheon. And, the marriage was much like the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. If you follow GoT, you will know the Lannisters are now the most powerful house in Westeros. The Maharashtra election results show a similarity between the Lannisters and the BJP. The BJP in Maharashtra is won 122 seats. The Lannisters’ motto is “Hear me roar!”. Can we deny it sounds very similar to the BJP? NCP= House Stark: The Sharad Pawar-led NCP snapped ties with Congress in the run up to the Maharashtra polls. The results till now show that the NCP won 41 seats. And, Congress in 42. Together they wouldn’t have been able to lead, but they were better off. Clearly, it was a big mistake to break up. “We gave support to Congress for the betterment of people of the nation. In 2004, the number of NCP MLAs was more than that of Congress but still we were modest and gave support to them,” a spokesperson had said. Too much pride? Throughout the show, the House Stark also showed that they were better off alone–which did not do them much favour. Dear NCP, winter is coming! Congress= House Tully: As far as exit polls go, they haven’t been too kind to the Congress. Neither has Westeros been to this house. The motto of the House “Family, Duty, Honor”–that’s much like what we think would be a Congress motto. At the onset of the War of the Five Kings, House Tully came under attack by House Lannister and lent its support for House Stark when they came to their aid in the liberation of the Riverlands. Compare it to the political situation in Maharashtra, the Congress came under the attack of BJP and led its support to NCP. However, House Tully has since been formally stripped of lands and titles for rebellion against the Iron Throne, with Lord Edmure a captive of House Frey following the Red Wedding. Most exit polls haven’t given the Congress-NCP alliance much of a chance with almost all of them predicting a complete rout of the two parties. Ouch. MNS= House Targaryen: After the election results, you can only feel sad for the MNS just like you feel for the Targareyens’ in the show. The Raj Thackeray led party won only 1 seat. House Targaryen was the ruling royal House of the Seven Kingdoms for three centuries. Though, MNS had a clout in Maharashtra, the Lok Sabha poll debacle was probably the beginning of their end. Even the independent parties are leading in more seats in the state.