POWER OF TWO THACKERAYS

Uddhav, Raj finally reunite for the language war—a version of which will soon be fought in crucial civic polls. Will the Marathi manoos stand behind the duo?

- By Dhaval S. Kulkarni

WHEN SIBLING FEUD TURNS TO bonding, it's not often that it portends climate changeof the political sort. But such a horizon opened up when, after two decades, the estranged Thackeray cousins-Uddhav and Raj-shared a stage to mount an assault on the BJP-led government in Maharashtra. Lending extra resonance to the moment was the theme they chose for the rapprochement: the nowscrapped move to introduce Hindi from Class I. Nothing could gel better with their shared Shiv Sena gene of nativist pride. What lies ahead is an intriguing phase, with crucial civic polls-including to India's richest municipal body, Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-not too far.

The original notes of dissent to Hindi had come from academicians and civil society groups. But it was the spectre of a Thackeray reunion that spooked the Devendra Fadnavis regime. It came to pass anyway, and can now potentially alter the state's political tectonics. Will Uddhav, chief of the Shiv Sena UBT, see his luck turning with Raj's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) joining him? The Sena UBT and MNS were both mauled in the 2024 assembly election.