This blog deals with providing an analysis as well as a variety of opinions regarding the function of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena as a political party .
There are three forms of political parties in India namely the right wing parties , the left wing parties and the central parties these parties work to satisfy the needs of the people they represent .
The
right wing parties are usually the conservative or reactionary section of a
political system that go back to the idealistic past and it is safe to say that
they are also fascist in nature .They believe in ideas such as market economy
with a small public sector, smaller government free-market principles, as well
as welfare chauvinist tendencies the theory is that every one for themselves
and everyone will succeed enough to live . Right wing parties also tend to
accepts and sometimes support social hierarchy
and social inequality
where a particular section of society is favored over another .
One of the major examples of a right wing party is the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena or the MNS which is a maharashtran Nationalist party based in Maharashtra and supports the motto of "Sons of the Soil"[1]. It was founded on the March 9, 2006 in Mumbai by Raj Thackeray .
This part of the project will deal
with providing a SWOT analysis of a right wing and a left wing party where its
strengths, weaknesses , opportunities
and threats will be looked at in great detail .This analysis will be done via
looking at the history of the party , as well as conducting a survey among a
group of 50 individuals who will express their views regarding the party and
also with an interview with the elected representative of the party .
Strengths –
The Maharashtra Navnirman
Sena (literally translates to the army
that will create a new Maharashtra )
party was founded by Raj Thackeray, nephew of Shiv Sena
leader Bal Thackeray. Raj Thackeray resigned from his
uncle's party in January 2006 and announced his intention to start a new
political party.
MNS relies on the policy of
Maharashtra for the Marathi speaking man who was born in Maharashtra . The
agenda is getting an immense support and sympathies of the state youth.
Although the MNS is a break-away
group from the Shiv Sena, the party is still based on Marathi
and Bhumiputra (sons of the soil ) ideology.
After a collection of a background
map of the parties character we interviewed Sudhakra Rao Chawan who is the
current elected representative from the MNS
party which holds its political gatherings at Shiwaji Nagar in Thane .
The interview comprised of a set
of questions which were asked regarding the MLA’s perception of his party and
what the party as a political party means to him .Sudhakar Rao Chawhan was open
to the idea of MNS being a fairly young party but in the course of its
existence it has achieved a great deal of success as a political party and as a
social force for promoting change .According to the parties founding principles
MNS continues to pay extra attention to the concept of a “Marathi manus ” (a
marathi speaking individual ) and how the enforcement of Marathi principles in
the social system of Maharashtra must be encouraged . He also went on to say
that MNS as a party find itself on the extreme end of the right wing when it
comes to its political placement as it believes in a conservative society and idealistic
governing system that was popular in the past .
As a member of MNS Sudhakar Rao Chawhan feels that he can relate
to the principles of the party as he himself is a Marathi man by birth .He also
feels that as a party MNS tries to do its best for catering to the needs of its
people but does not offer the same facilities to various other cultures that reside
in Maharashtra .
It was after this interview that
we conducted a survey among 50 individuals who were above the age group of 18
and knew about the current affairs of MNS .
It was in this part of the
project that a completely different view regarding MNS as a party emerged
.About 34% of the individuals interviewed did not support the ideas expressed
by MNS as a party this group of individuals were primarily north Indians living
in Mumbai .A major factor that played in the creation of this remark came in 2008 where there were several instances of violence against
North Indians in Maharashtra which MNS encouraged and authorities mostly turned
a blind eye to .
As an individual living in one’s
own country people believe that the idea of “india” must be more important than
the idea of Maharashtra alone , even as a party dealing with one state it must
be more open to serve people who may not share the same culture or may not
speak the same language but as they live in the same country and in the same
state political parties must not be bias in favoring one section of society
while insulting various other cultures .
One of the major concerns
regarding the MNS lies in the fact that they use illegitimate power to a large
extent to enforce their will among people as seen in the case of recasting all
the signboards in various parts of Maharashtra (especially in Mumbai and Pune )
in Marathi .MNS also plays a vital role
in encouraging the study of Marathi in schools based in Maharashtra giving it
more importance than other languages such as Hindi which most people did not
approve of .
On interviewing individuals who
belonged to a Marathi background most Maharashtrans look at MNS as a political
party which takes care of them and the party almost stands out as the
“godfather” to most Maharashtrans .
In Maharashtra MNS holds a great deal of
popularity among the youth and the elderly as the idea of Bhumiputra appeals
greatly to a Maharastran born and living in Maharashtra .
The party also holds a great
deal of power as it was born out of the Shiv Sena party which commands a great
deal of authority in Maharashtra .
The charisma of the Thackreay
family also contributes to the goodwill
this party creates with its followers .
On conducting a survey to
collect data in the form of a semi structured interview the following factors
of the SWOT analysis came into being
Weaknesses –
As a political party the MNS is
looked down upon in Maharashtra by a great deal of non Maharashtrans owing to
the radical forms of aggression that the party sometimes resorts to .
Opportunities –
One of the major opportunities
for the MNS as a political party lies in the fact that now they face no threats
from the Shiv Sena owing to the loss of “power” after the death of their former
leader Bal Thackeray .This leaves a window open to claim that power owing to
the fact that most Shiv Sena followers have now begun switching their loyalties
towards MNS (as seen through interviews among
political workers at the Shiv Sena Shakha ) .
Threats –
A threat that is faced by the
MNS is that they do not cater to the needs of a large segment of the population
of Maharashtra and are also looked down upon by most people as they do not
approve of the MNS ‘s methods of showing political aggression .
[1]
Sons of the soil – a political concept that believes in favoring a particular
section of society owing to the fact that they were born in the particular
place the reside , believe in the culture of that area and speak the same language
as most people from that area .
