In Parel, Vinayak Wairkar grew up in a household where two generations had gone to jail for Shiv Sena. His uncle was part of Balasaheb Thackeray’s original security detail, the Bhagwa Guard, in the years when the party was young and its enemies were real. “Everyone was ready to lay down their lives on a single command from Balasaheb” he said. That world, he believes, was dismantled not by Eknath Shinde or the six MPs who walked out last week, but from within, and long before any of them left.As six of Uddhav Thackeray’s nine Lok Sabha MPs moved closer to Shinde’s faction around the time the party marked its 60th foundation day, several veteran Shiv Sainiks said they saw not a sudden betrayal but the culmination of a decline that had been years in the making. While they differ on who is responsible, many believe the party drifted away from the culture that built it: grassroots mobilisation, direct engagement with workers and a clear ideological identity.“Uddhav saheb completely sidelined the founder members,” Wairkar said. “People who had 100 cases registered against them for the party, he sidelined all of them.”For some veterans, the break with BJP in 2019 marked a turning point. Balasaheb Thackeray had long projected Shiv Sena as a party rooted in Hindutva and Marathi identity. Uddhav Thackeray’s decision to form Maha Vikas Aghadi govt with Congress and NCP after falling out with BJP over chief ministership left many uneasy. “The Sainiks didn’t like Congress ideology,” Wairkar said. “He completely sidelined Hindutva and Marathi ideology.”Shaila Bagwe (59), a retired BMC employee from Mulund whose family helped build a local shakha from scratch, said: “That time too we had given our word to Shiv Sena and BJP. But then they joined Congress. Because he wanted to be CM. If the leader starts doing this, then the one below (hinting at Eknath Shinde) will do the same.”The second grievance has been access. Across conversations, veterans repeatedly contrasted the Shiv Sena they knew with the one they see today. The old party, they said, was built through personal contact, endless travel and a constant presence among workers.Shyam Deshmukh (85), an architect from Mulund who joined before the party was formally founded, remembered building the organisation through relentless outreach. “We gave our blood and sweat. We spent years of our lives building the organisation. We didn’t take a single dime and we had no expectations,” he said.“We travelled everywhere, to places where even the police found it difficult to go. Directly meeting people is extremely important,” Deshmukh added.Bagwe echoed the point. “You have to roam all over Maharashtra, you have to do meetings, you have to go to the shakha. If not you, then your son should go. It won’t happen sitting in Mumbai.”Veterans who otherwise differed on ideology, leadership and the future of the party repeatedly brought up and criticised one person’s role: Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut.“All statements are coming from Raut alone. Uddhav saheb says nothing,” Wairkar said. “The big MLAs and MPs complained about his way of talking, but Uddhav saheb doesn’t quiet him at all.”Bagwe was equally direct. “One hundred percent reason for the party breaking: first, Raut. And second, the way Uddhav Thackeray brought his son forward.”Yet, even among critics of the present leadership, there remains a reluctance to accept Shinde’s claim that numbers alone determine the party’s identity. “The original Shiv Sena is the real one. You cannot change that,” Deshmukh said.Not every veteran, however, is interested in assigning blame for the disintegration.Shivaji Sonawane (81) attended Balasaheb Thackeray’s first rally at Shivaji Park in 1966 after arriving in Mumbai from Nashik in search of work. He still remembers a crowd so vast that comparing it to the nearby Arabian Sea, he said, “wouldn’t be an exaggeration”.A lean man in a safari suit stepped onto the stage and addressed “My Marathi brothers, sisters and mothers”. Sonawane became a Shiv Sainik that day. Six decades later, he has little interest in deciding who represents the “real” Shiv Sena. What pains him is the cumulative weight of every departure. “Bhujbal saheb left, Rane saheb left, Ganesh Naik left and Raj saheb walked out of the house,” he said. “When members of your own family leave the home, it inflicts a deep wound.”At 81, his prescription is simpler than the others. “Everyone needs to come together,” he said.“All those who split away should unite as one so that the Marathi man can stand tall with pride in Mumbai and across Maharashtra.”
