A routine luggage check-in in Yavatmal on Monday involving Uddhav Thackeray has blown into a political controversy barely a week before the Maharashtra Assembly election. The former Chief Minister was in the region to address a rally when the incident occurred, prompting a heated exchange between Thackeray’s faction of the Shiv Sena and the group led by Eknath Shinde.
On the luggage frisking, Sanjay Raut, a senior leader from the Thackeray camp, asked if the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were also scrutinized when they went on election campaigns. Raut’s remarks betrayed bitterness over what looked like injustice being done to them.
The Shinde faction did not waste any more time in its response: Spokesperson Krishna Hegde said Shinde’s bags were checked during a Nashik election tour. “Shindeji did not make a fuss. Didn’t create an uproar like the Uddhav Thackeray camp,” Hegde said, implying that Raut has a history of making frivolous charges.
Raut added, perturbed by the large checks his party had to face, that he questioned the legitimacy of the election process. “Our luggage, helicopter, private jet, cars—everything is checked. But are the helicopters and cars of Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar, Narendra Modi, and Amit Shah also checked?” He then said large amounts of cash transactions were in process, insinuating, basically, corruption in the election process.
The shared video on X shows Thackeray asking the officer concerned why the bags of the key leaders were not being inspected. The officer appears to reply that these leaders have not yet campaigned in this area, and Thackeray suggests that they must be checked when they do so.
Later, at a rally in the Wani Assembly seat, Thackeray referred to the incident, asking the supporters to be alert and ask for identification cards before allowing anybody to check their bags.
Luggage checks have become routine during Maharashtra elections, with each party accusing its opponents of trying to transport illegal funds to buy votes. In January this year, in another incident involving Shinde’s bags, the officials reportedly said they found “nothing objectionable.”
Later, sources in the Election Commission said that strict protocols are in place to check the helicopters of political leaders when they campaign to ensure a level playing field in the elections. These measures were highlighted during the general elections in April-June when officials checked the helicopters used by Amit Shah.
The voting for Maharashtra’s 288 Assembly seats is scheduled for November 20, with the results expected three days later. Thackeray’s camp is in league with the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, pitted against the BJP and the Shinde and Ajit Pawar-led factions.
