Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray has not been able to convert his fan base into votes in the last two elections, but he has the knack for setting the cat among the pigeons. He is a detonator who is said to be blasting bombs that aren’t necessarily made by him. The Hindutva sentiment that is featuring prominently in state politics again—after the Shiv Sena’s own saffron agenda came under scrutiny following its union with secular parties—has been appropriated by the MNS, along with the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the wake of Raj’s call for playing Hanuman Chalisa in front the mosques if the loudspeakers are not removed by May 3, the Sena and its ruling partners, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, have come out in the open to celebrate Hanuman Jayanti and cite the verse. The harbinger of strength and devotion and an astute bhakt of Lord Ram, Hanuman ji trended last weekend like never before. We were flooded with messages from leaders from across parties, about them visiting Hanuman Jayanti celebrations across the state. The leaders seemed to have travelled between the places of worship faster than Lord Hanuman’s aerial sorties in the Ramayana.

With everyone scurrying to prove their Hindutva credentials, Ayodhya’s Lord Ram, the turning point of the country’s politics, will have Raj and his Sena minister nephew, Aaditya Thackeray, praying at the under construction Ram Janmabhoomi site. Raj said he will be there at the epicentre of Hindutva on June 5. Aaditya’s itinerary has not been announced yet. Both parties have promised a show of strength during their visit. The significance of grand Hanuman Jayanti celebrations and proposed Ayodhya visits is that the saffron cousins—the MNS and the Sena—don’t wish to hand over the advantage to each other ahead of the municipal polls, and thereafter when the big test beckons in terms of the general and Assembly elections. The Congress and NCP have been trying to polish their secular side. The Sena has insisted that it has never dropped Hindutva, which isn’t the BJP or MNS kind. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party will have to prove its different Hindutva while others have raised their decibel levels to impress the voters with a hard-core ideology.