The Samajwadi Party on Saturday announced it was snapping ties with the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, making an issue out of a post on X by an inconsequential lawmaker of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena that hailed the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

While the sudden decision was state-specific, it appeared to carry larger significance at a time strains have emerged within the wider INDIA bloc following the back-to-back
poll defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra.

The SP’s announcement comes amid efforts by the Akhilesh Yadav-led party and the Trinamool Congress to leverage their combined strength to undermine the Congress.

Parliament’s ongoing winter session has brought the dissensions within the INDIA grouping out in the open, with the Samajwadis and Trinamool failing to join the Congress-led protests against the Adani group on the House premises.

Further underlining the strain, Trinamool boss Mamata Banerjee has signalled an intent to lead the Opposition bloc while expressing dissatisfaction with its functioning.

The Samajwadis, who had fought the November Maharashtra polls as part of the MVA and won two seats, latched on to a post on X by an MLC from Uddhav’s party, Milind Narwekar, on Friday, the 32nd anniversary of the Babri demolition.

Narwekar had posted a poster that carried pictures of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, his son Uddhav and grandson Aditya, while showing kar sevaks atop the domes of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

“Those who did this, I am proud of them,” the accompanying text said, echoing Bal Thackeray’s comments after the December 6, 1992, vandalism.

Abu Azmi, a veteran MLA who heads the SP in Maharashtra, announced his party was quitting the MVA.

“After the defeat in the Assembly polls, Uddhav Thackeray is back to his old Hindutva position of justifying the Babri Masjid demolition. This is unacceptable to us and so we are quitting the MVA,” he told reporters in Mumbai.

Azmi said he had not taken sanction from Akhilesh but felt confident that the party president would endorse the move.

“I’m sure Akhilesh Bhai will support my decision because it’s a matter of ideology. The demolition was a criminal act and we cannot align with a party that celebrates the black day,” he said.

Uddhav’s Sena has, however, always asserted its allegiance to “true Hindutva” while castigating the BJP’s brand of Hindutva.

Azmi said Uddhav’s party had also put out a newspaper advertisement with a similar message. He said that after snapping ties with the BJP in 2019, Uddhav’s party had declared allegiance to the secular ideology but was now going back to Hindutva.

“If anyone speaks such language, what is the difference between them and the BJP? Why should we stay with them?” Azmi said.

Asked whether the SP could also walk out of the INDIA bloc at the national level, Azmi said: “That decision will be taken by Akhilesh Bhai.”

Azmi and his party’s other MLA in Maharashtra, Rais Shaikh, took the oath of office in the Assembly on Saturday defying a boycott called by the MVA in protest against the alleged manipulation of electronic voting machines during the November elections.

Uddhav’s son Aditya had told reporters the party would boycott the oath ceremony
on the first day of the Assembly, Saturday.