Mumbai, Feb 11 (IANS) The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Wednesday said that although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) achieved a “hat-trick” in Maharashtra’s local body polls after its success in Municipal Council and Corporation elections, this political “bloom” masks a deepening crisis in rural livelihoods and democratic integrity.

The Thackeray camp in a scathing editorial of the party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ claimed that the BJP’s victory in rural strongholds is “unnatural” and “artificial”, like “Chinese goods” instead of a genuine public support.

“The victory of the BJP and the fake Shiv Sena faction lacks legitimacy because their very party identities and symbols are in question. How can the victory of those whose party and symbol themselves are not real be considered true? Nevertheless, the reckless splashing of gulal continues,” it said.

The editorial said the poll result is such that one should humbly offer a full prostration (Saashtang Dandavat) to the people of rural Maharashtra. These results create confusion as to whether they should be accepted as a democracy or if one should simply hit their head in despair. As usual, the credit for the BJP’s victory is being given to Prime Minister Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Fadnavis.

“These elections took place when 3,000 farmers have committed suicide in the last six months, with the highest concentration in Marathwada. Trade agreements with the US and the infiltration of foreign goods into local markets are seen as devastating to domestic farmers. Over 1,25,000 government schools — primarily serving children of farmers — have closed nationwide in the last five years. Schemes like Skill India and Make in India are dismissed as failures, with critics mocking suggestions that unemployed youth should ‘fry pakoras’ or graze cattle for a stipend,” commented the Thackeray camp.

“Will anyone believe that these devastated farmers and their families still stamped the BJP’s Lotus for victory and tied the chains of slavery around their own feet?” asked the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

According to the editorial, there are no new industries or businesses. Development has become an equation of projects that only enrich a handful of contractors. The rural economy has become unstable as the sugar industry faces difficulties.

“Farmers’ hearths are being extinguished; but if the victory ‘gulal’ is being splashed in Maharashtra because envelopes of five to six thousand rupees reached homes for voting, then it will be said tomorrow that this generation bargained away the future of their children,” it remarked. The editorial highlighted a cynical trend where money and power dictate local election outcomes.

“The concept of ‘Blooming Lotus’ describes a pure, beautiful, and fragrant flower blooming in the mud. The Lotus is considered a symbol of Goddess Lakshmi, but in our country and Maharashtra, politics has been turned into mud by corrupt money. Even if the Lotus has bloomed again from that mud in the local body elections, farmers and labourers will still be seen struggling in the mire. This is because this very ‘Lotus’ has turned the state’s rural life and economy into a swamp,” it said.

–IANS

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