Thackerays join hands for a Mumbai that has changed beyond recognition

As Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray buried their two-decade-old hatchet and announced an electoral alliance between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for the local body polls in the state on Wednesday, December 24, 2025, they offered analogies from the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, the war that gave birth to the Shiv Sena in the 1960s. Marathi manoo (sons of the soil).

Through the reunion, the Thackeray cousins ​​aim to capitalize on the emotional appeal the ‘Thackeray brand’ has created for Marathi manoo. So will this lead to easy wins?

when in marathi manoo This struggle, in which Mumbaiites felt deprived of their rights, led to the deaths of 106 people who fought for Mumbai’s inclusion in Maharashtra. Shiv Sena was born in the 1960s out of the discontent and anger of citizens seeking their rights in their city. For the next decades, Marathi manoo He sided with Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray and the party to gain complete control over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the richest municipal corporation in the country.

The Thackeray cousins ​​on Wednesday summoned their grandfather and social reformer ‘Prabodhankar’ Thackeray along with their father to highlight the lineage of the family who fought for Marathi. manooHe emphasized that this is under threat again.

Emphasizing the ‘Thackeray brand’, the families first paid their respects to Bal Thackeray at the memorial service before heading together to the joint address. Uddhav’s wife Rashmi Thackeray and Raj’s wife Sharmila Thackeray listened with rapt attention as their spouses made a short speech and officially announced the alliance, without giving any details.

The differences between the referenced situation and the current situation are quite obvious. Firstly, Mumbai’s demography has changed significantly, which does not empower the Marathi-speaking population to choose a party on its own. Even that vote bank doesn’t vote the same way. The BJP claims to have support among the Marathi-speaking upper-caste population. Secondly, both Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS have faced political defeats in the recent past that have significantly reduced the strength of their parties. The results of the first two phases of local body elections to municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the state reflect the abysmal performance. Shiv Sena (UBT) was able to elect only nine candidates as president in polls conducted for 288 local bodies and ranked fifth among the top six parties; MNS, on the other hand, did not compete at all in these two stages.

Shiv Sena had garnered around 27% votes in 2017, when it fought the BMC elections as a united party before incumbent Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde split the party. While it was the largest party with 84 seats, it was just two seats short of the BJP. But today, Shinde’s Shiv Sena has 38 councilors out of 84 in the corporation, while MNS had six councilors then.

Both the cousins ​​have so far struggled to garner votes from the same vote bank. They hope their reunion will stop the vote split.

Raj Thackeray had supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections last year. It will be difficult for Uddhav Thackeray to overcome such differences.

More importantly, the move to join hands for local elections led to the dissolution of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance. He says the Congress cannot justify a “divisive and communal force” like Raj Thackeray to its voter base. Experts say Shiv Sena (UBT) will not see any transfer of votes from the Congress voter base. The Congress has categorically stated that it will fight against the Shiv Sena (UBT), making the battle tough for the cousins. In this case, Uddhav Thackeray gave up a bigger ally to align himself with Raj Thackeray. But the cousins ​​will now have Hindutva’s stronghold on the campaign trail, where they will compete with the BJP and Eknath Shinde to stake their claim.

Questions are also raised about the trust that prevails between the cousins. “Maharashtra’s interest is greater than the differences between the two of us,” Raj Thackeray said after the merger was announced on Wednesday. At the same time, the cousins ​​did not speak freely and openly about their seat-sharing understanding.