Shiv Sena on the decline

About 15 years ago, a party stood really tall and was looked upon with sheer admiration by netas and political pundits alike. Although it came to power only in 1995, it ruled the hearts of the Maharashtrians always and literally ruled the stateu00a0 since its inception.

But now, with time passing by, the outfit is slowly losing its charm, because of lack of charismatic leadership. It was always a one- man army, but there were a few senapatis inu00a0 Bal Thackeray's sena, who, if they had been trained well and handled with care, wouldn't have let the organisation see such a day.

In fact, the way things are functioning within the Sena, it seems like it's heading nowhere. After suffering a debacle after another (barring a major achievement of retaining the city mayor's post yesterday pun unintended), the outfit seems to be in troubled waters.

Also, with people constantly leaving the party, the Sena now stands on shaky ground. It started with Chhagan Bhujbal followed by Narayan Rane, who I believe, were two of the four pillars on which the party stood. They were the ones who, apart from Bal Thackeray, had a strong hold over the party and had mastered the art of influencing people.

Then, came a major jolt when the strongest column of the Sena fortress collapsed. Raj Thackeray, the bhatija, who was undoubtedly the right inheritor of chacha's legacy, was deprived. Angry with his uncle for choosing his son over him, he caused a rift in the Sena, which is difficult to mend.

The fortress now stands only on the shoulders of Thackeray Sr, who is getting weaker by the day due to advancing age. Also, the Sena supremo and his party must have been shaken when bahu Smita alleged that she was being marginalised in the party. One can only imagine the plight of Bal Thackeray whose bahu believed to be closest to him alleges that his party is being unfair to Maharashtrians.

What's more, a couple of months ago, Sena's executive president Uddhav Thackeray said there would be no desertions from the party as. However,u00a0 within a few days a couple of MLAs left the party to join Rane. And now, with Smita Thackeray's public outrage against Sena, the party had switched to silent mode. Ever since she took this call, the Sena service seems to have gone out of order.