In Maharashtra’s crowded field, Opposition could stand out by tapping state’s progressive tradition
The state’s culture of mystics, Shivaji’s secular credentials and the holy trinity of Phule-Ambedkar-Shahu is a strong ideological counter to the Mahayuti.
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The Maharashtra assembly elections slated for November 20 could well be the most complex electoral battles ever witnessed in the country.
Just over a week before polling day, there are no definitive clues about which of the two main alliances in the fray has the edge. For the contesting coalitions, therefore, the question is: given the seemingly intractable complexity, is there anything they could do to move voters to their corner?
Never in the history of Maharashtra, and possibly in any other state, has the electoral arena pulsated with so many political parties, each having its make-or-break potential.
In Maharashtra, there are six main parties in the fray. Battling as the Mahayuti or grand alliance are the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Ajit Pawar.
They are ranged against the Maha Vikas Aghadi or Grand Front for Development consisting of the Congress, the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray and the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Sharad Pawar.
Also in the fray are the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi led by Prakash Ambedkar, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
In addition, there is the newly-formed third front called the Parivartan...
