A staunch saffron swayamsevak is soon going to be the chief minister of the state where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was established, with strong backing from a significant number of legislators. This is precisely the kind of scenario the Sangh could have only dreamed of as it approaches its centenary.
In addition to his serious political background in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and his strong ideological roots in the Sangh, Devendra Fadnavis is preparing for his new position as chief minister by drawing on his five years of extremely instructive experience.
He has experienced a range of emotions, moments and experiences over the years, including elation when the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won 161 seats in the 2019 assembly elections under his leadership, total dejection when Uddhav Thackeray left the alliance and Fadnavis realised the BJP’s diminished tally of 105 (down from 122 in 2014), which had actually allowed Uddhav to defect and having to put up with derisive references to his pre-2019 polling statement of “Mee Punha Yein (I’ll be back),” which the opposition—and even BJP detractors—used to malign him.
Even though the BJP had more members in mid-2022, they still had to play second fiddle to Eknath Shinde. Additionally, he was the target of negative comments by Maratha quota campaigner Manoj Jarange, references to his caste background by a rival and personal hits on his weight by Uddhav Thackeray.
Fadnavis kept his head down the entire time. This was true for a while since Shinde, the opposition leader, promised to meet him privately in the middle of the night while they planned ‘Operation Topple MVA’. Fadnavis and Shinde spent a year and a half trying to persuade Shiv Sena legislators to change sides and “restore” the public mandate.
As the Anil Deshmukh-Param Bir Singh and Sachin Waze-Antilia bomb scare allegations erupted, he performed his duties in the non-nocturnal hours just as well, putting up fierce attacks and pressure on the House floor.
Given his background as chief minister from 2014 to 2019, his constitutional expertise and his aptitude for sorting through government documents and studying budget data, it is clear that he would have been able to reclaim the top position.
And just as the Mahayuti’s situation had steadied with the arrival of Ajit Pawar and the government receiving much-needed legal respite, the Maratha quota campaign—of which Fadnavis was one of its primary targets—emerged, casting doubt on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Fadnavis had accepted responsibility for the unexpected outcome of the June 4 LS polls and offered to step down to focus on rebuilding before the important assembly elections. Rather, the top leadership of the BJP sought him to oversee the preparations for the election while still in government.
While the opposition MVA was on a high and expected to repeat its triumph in the assembly polls, party cadre morale was low. Fadnavis took an early action at this time that proved to be crucial. During meetings, private conversations and media appearances, he frequently assured BJP activists that the difference between the MVA and Mahayuti vote shares was only a small 1%. He highlighted that MVA had only received two lakh more votes than Mahayuti and that the outcome may be overturned if Mahayuti were to turn out an additional two lakh voters in the assembly polls.
In the Lok Sabha polls, he kept bringing up what he called the “fake narrative” of the “Constitution in danger” that had been so effective for MVA. He contacted the RSS to ask for its assistance in refuting the MVA’s caste and community narrative and in promoting Hindu unification by drawing attention to the “Malegaon model,” which had cost Mahayuti several Lok Sabha seats through the mobilisation of Muslim electors.
Following a thorough selection of candidates for the assembly elections, he urged BJP rebels throughout the state to step aside, promising to look out for their interests and inviting them to contact him at any time. He also released his own fulminations against ‘vote jihad’ and in favour of what he called ‘dharmayuddha,’ the term he used to describe the assembly polls, in an attempt to counter the opposition’s minority mobilisation tactic, even though he remained silent in response to Jarange’s charges against him.
However, he was largely a quiet performer. He showed resiliency by taking things on the chin. He has reaped the rewards of his perseverance. And the “one from the family (Parivar)” environment is back for the RSS.
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