The Shiv Sena's moment of truth

With its ideology based on resentment having run its course, the party must figure out a new pathway to relevance

The Thackeray family, once a vibrant political force in Maharashtra, has become a minor player but is refusing to acknowledge it. Its party, the Shiv Sena, is again pretending to play hardball with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), though it has no long-term options and is facing the most competent political party in recent history. An alliance that keeps looking iffy will eventually happen and the Sena will fold as it has always done. The BJP’s patience and restraint and its long game have produced high returns.

The remarkable thing here is that in all the three decades of the