Battleground Shivaji Park: Why Two Shiv Sena’s Want To Assert Their Identity Through A Piece of Land.

Shivaji Park, in the heart of Mumbai, is not just a mere public ground. Over the years, this piece of land has become a melting pot of politics, culture, sports and religion. It is the same ground where a young Sachin Tendulkar practised cricket to be nicknamed Master Blaster in later years. The staging of Ramleela attracted a good number of footfalls here every Navratri. It became a crematorium for celebrities when Bal Thackeray and Lata Mangeshkar were cremated here. Over the years, it has witnessed numerous political rallies and many national faces speaking from the dais constructed on the ground. However, for the Shiv Sena, Shivaji Park is particularly significant, and the party calls it Shivteerth, a place of pilgrimage.

Suspense is prevailing in the political corridors of Maharashtra over who will address the crowd at Shivaji Park on 5 October, the day when Hindus celebrate Dashera. Uddhav Thackeray or Eknath Shinde? Both factions of the Shiv Sena have applied for the ground. For both factions, it has become indispensable to get the ground for asserting that they are the “real Shiv Sena.”

Over the decades, on the day of Dashera, one could see two stages erected on the ground. In the evening, at one corner, Adarsh Ramleela Samiti enacted an episode of Ramayana where Rama killed Ravana followed by the burning of a giant effigy of the latter, while, at the centre of the ground, from a huge stage the Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray addressed the annual gathering of his party workers. Although Thackeray took several rallies across the year in various parts of Maharashtra, the one at Shivaji Park was special. With a ground full of enthusiastic Shiv Sainiks, Thackeray spoke randomly about several state-related and national issues. His words used to be full of aggression, expletives and threats to the party’s opponents, which over time changed from south Indians to Gujaratis and Muslims. Often, many eminent personalities outside the Shiv Sena were also invited on the stage to address. In one such gathering, even Sharad Pawar was invited, who was then with the Congress and known to be a fierce political adversary of Thackeray, although he was Thackeray’s friend on a personal level.

It was on the stage of the Dashera Rally that Bal Thackeray introduced his grandson Aditya to politics in 2010. Presenting him a sword, Thackeray urged the Shiv Sainiks to take care of Aditya. After Bal Thackeray’s demise, the tradition of the Dashera Rally was continued by his third son, Uddhav. Uddhav’s style of oratory greatly differed from his father’s. Although he attempted to present himself as aggressively, his speeches were not as intimidating and bitter as senior Thackeray's. Uddhav mostly spoke against his political rivals but rarely targeted any community on communal or regional grounds.

When Bal Thackeray died in November 2012, he was cremated exactly at the same place in Shivaji Park where the stage for his Dashera Rally used to get erected. Now his memorial occupies a chunk of Shivaji Park on the western side. On the eastern side, a bust of his demised wife Meenatai Thackeray, whom Shiv Sainiks refer to as Ma Saheb, is installed. When Uddhav Thackeray became the chief minister in 2019, he chose Shivaji Park as the venue for swearing-in.

Over the years, many political parties have used the ground for their events. When actor Dev Anand, disillusioned after the failed Janta Party experiment post-emergency, launched his political outfit National Party of India (NPI), chose Shivaji Park for the inaugural rally. The news of the overwhelming response that Anand’s rally got reached Indira Gandhi, and she offered him to join her party. Anand turned down the offer. However, his party failed to sustain itself for a long. In February 1993, Bal Thackeray invited him to launch the Hindi edition of his party’s mouthpiece titled “Dopahar Ka Saamana.”

The immediate surroundings of Shivaji Park also hold politically significant buildings. Shiv Sena Bhavan, the headquarters of the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction, is just a few metres away. Rajgad, the head office of Raj Thackeray’s party MNS, is also close by. Raj Thackeray himself lives in a bungalow overlooking the park on its southern side. Balmohan Vidya Mandir, the school from where some prominent politicians, actors and cricketers of Maharashtra have passed out, is in one of the by-lanes of Shivaji Park. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was cremated just behind Shivaji Park beside the sea at a place which is now famous as Chaityabhoomi.

Since the tradition of the Dashera rally at Shivaji Park is inherent with the identity of the Shiv Sena, both factions are aggressively vying for it. Now the ball is in the BMC’s court which has to determine who will get the coveted ground.