‘Mera paani utarta dekh, mere kinare par ghar mat basaa lena.
Main samandar hoon, laut kar wapas aaunga’
(Don’t settle on my banks, thinking my water has receded. I am an ocean. I will return)
In 2019, after failing to form the government in Maharashtra after a split with Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis quoted this couplet on the floor of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
The BJP was the single largest party then. After failed attempts to form a government, the BJP sat in Opposition for two and a half years. Uddhav Thackeray had joined hands with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, accusing Mr. Fadnavis and Amit Shah of backstabbing him and of going back on their word. The acrimony between Mr. Fadnavis and Uddhav continues till date in Maharashtra politics.
In 2022, after a split in the Shiv Sena under the leadership of Eknath Shinde, which Uddhav blamed on Mr. Fadnavis, the BJP returned to power in Maharashtra. Some time later, the NCP split as well, with the Ajit Pawar-led faction joining the BJP-Sena combine.
It was a peculiar situation where different factions of the Shiv Sena and the NCP, locked in a bitter battle over their claims to be the true party, were part of the government and the opposition at the same time. The opposition factions of both parties blamed Mr. Fadnavis and the central leadership of the BJP for their “divisive politics” and accused Mr. Fadnavis of devising the split.
Today, as his couplet goes viral on the Internet due to the landslide victory of the Mahayuti alliance in which the BJP has performed impressively well with a strike rate of almost 90%, the focus is back on Mr. Fadnavis, or ‘Deva bhau’ as the BJP campaign had branded him in September, ostensibly to negate the references to caste politics, where the Maratha-dominated political landscape had chosen to pick on his Brahmin identity.
Throughout the campaign during this election, his rivals contemptuously referred to Mr. Fadnavis as Annaji Pant, a controversial figure in Maratha history, who is considered a ‘traitor’ by many for conspiring against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s son Chhatrapati Sambhaji, trying to get him killed.
Today, Mr. Fadnavis is being seen as the sculptor of the BJP’s victory in Maharashtra. But during the Lok Sabha election earlier this year, the party had won only nine of the 28 seats it contested in the State.
“I take complete responsibility for the performance of the party in Maharashtra. I request the central leadership to please free me of the responsibility of the Deputy Chief Minister. I want to dedicate myself for strengthening the party organisation,” Mr. Fadnavis said then in a press conference in Mumbai, creating a flutter at the national level. Five months later, in the Assembly election, the BJP contested 148 seats and won 132 of them.
Early career
In his political career which started at a very young age, he has earned several distinctions. Coming from a humble background in Nagpur, Mr. Fadnavis belonged to a family which had firm affiliation with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Jan Sangh.
His father Gangadhar Fadnavis was a member of the Legislative Council, and was affiliated with the Jan Sangh. Mr. Fadnavis joined the RSS at a very young age. He started his political journey in his student days by joining the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a right wing students’ association linked with the RSS. He became the youngest Mayor of Nagpur city at the age of 27 years.
He is the second youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the second youngest Mayor in the history of the country, and one of the only two Chief Ministers to complete a full term of five years in the State. His supporters claim that his leadership transformed Nagpur, the karmabhoomi of both Mr. Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. The Opposition, on the other side, has claimed that Mr. Fadnavis failed to develop Nagpur, and that the crime rate has increased in the city.
Resurgence
His current resurgence is being seen as a testimony to his grit, perseverance, resilience, strategic thinking and adaptability. His supporters say he has taken the responsibility of the party’s performance, burnt many bridges in the party’s interest, put a lot at stake for strengthening the party organisation, and devised strategies to weaken the opposition. His detractors say Mr. Fadnavis has not let any other leadership centres emerge, and that he has shown a vindictive nature.
In 2019, after his claim that he will return to power (‘Mi punha yein’ poem was trolled on the social media for years thereafter), there were speculations on whether his importance within the party had diminished.
After the split in the Shiv Sena in 2022, when Eknath Shinde joined hands with the BJP, many of Mr. Fadnavis’s supporters expected that his name would be announced as the Chief Minister. Instead, Mr. Fadnavis himself made the announcement that Mr. Shinde would be the Chief Minister and that though he wanted to stay out of power, he would take up the position of the Deputy Chief Minister due to the party’s directions. It was considered a step-down.
“What has he not done for the party? He was the mastermind. The Sena leaders trusted him when they took this step,” a BJP leader told this correspondent at the time of the government formation in 2022, indicating that Mr. Fadnavis was ‘not rewarded despite his master stroke’.
As a politician, he is extremely guarded and careful about the perception created about him. Several of his political opponents refer to him as simultaneously meritorious and insecure, someone who doesn’t take very kindly to competition. Unlike many senior politicians in Maharashtra’s political ecosystem, he isn’t known as someone who openly discusses his thoughts and plans. He is also someone who is seen to have climbed the ladder quite fast. In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had thanked Nagpur for “giving the gift of Devendra Fadnavis”. In 2024, after the State Assembly victory, Mr. Modi referred to him as ‘param-mitra’ (eternal friend).
Proximity to RSS
Hailing from Nagpur, Mr. Fadnavis has always shared proximity with the RSS. As a karyakarta, a swayamsevak, he was involved in several campaigns of the RSS. “On all the parameters of ‘swayamsevakatva’, he completely fulfils them. From Kashmir to Ayodhya, he has participated in many campaigns. He has shown the same austerity. He is a composite and ideal politician, who has established himself on merit,” someone close to the Sangh said.
“But when a political party grows, it has several considerations beyond individual aspirations. It has a plan for 25 years ahead. So one should not look at it as a preference for or against a leader. But a vision for the party. That is how larger decisions are taken. It may not have a bearing on an individual leader,” said another leader.
Published – December 01, 2024 01:04 am IST
