Maharashtra | Meter down over Marathi

If the Opposition is mired in existential crises, the burden of keeping a conflictual air alive within Maharashtra politics is borne well by the ruling Mahayuti. The running duel is between the dominant force, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the ambitious deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, which is seeking to emerge as a force with a distinct imprimatur. Three episodes have brought this into sharp relief yet again: the Sena is staking claim to the Mumbai mayor’s post, it has joined the fray in elections to one of the city’s most prestigious cooperative banks, and it’s raising the ante on a language controversy.