They are among thousands of party workers, unseen, unheard, but necessary for a candidate's win
They are among thousands of party workers, unseen, unheard, but necessary for a candidate's win
Shiv Sena worker, Sachin Jadhav,
JUST who is Sachin Jadhav?
There's this assistant in the records department of Lilavati hospital who organises people's discharge formalities, billing, credit card payments and suchlike. Quietly. Namelessly. Facelessly.
|
|
Photo gallery: Sachin Jadhav shows shows his picture with Bal Thackeray. PIC/ PRADEEP DHIVAR |
Then there's the off-office-hours Sachin Jadhav, whom even strangers recognise and come up to say hi when he walks in his mohalla: the erstwhile mill-lanes of Lower Parel.
That's him the Shiv Sainik, the metaphorical soldier of the god. A political worker from when he was 14, he has risen through the ranks to head the local students wing and the party union at the hospital.
"The party gives me an identity. People recognise me in my area as a Shiv Sainik. They come for help," said theu00a0 30-year-old sitting in a teashop near the Worli Naka counting booth yesterday.
Jadhav is one of the more than six lakh members of the Shiv Sena across Maharashtra. It takes Rs 5 to be a member. "When I was small, I saw the Sena would organise events in the neighbourhood, help people out with their water problems, job hunt, hospitalisation," he said.
His father, who was a mill worker, never stopped him from joining politics. "He asked me to make sure I get some benefit from working for the party," Jadhav said. "I got my job because of a recommendation from MP Mohan Rawle and then shakha pramukh Sunil Shinde."
His wife is an employee with another hospital and their four-year-old son can recognise Balasaheb and Uddhav Thackeray from the big photos which hang at their chawl room.
"Raj Thackeray is a great actor. Tell me what he has done for Marathi manoos. No constructive agitation, nothing," he said. "He opened a Udipi restaurant, then saw the Chinese eatery next door doing good business and converted his eatery to Chinese."
If not realpolitik, Jadhav has grasped the "real" politics early. "Every party has spent Rs 4-5 crore behind each candidate. So obviously they will look to recover the money, especially in a place like Parel where there's a lot of construction going on."
By evening, Sena had sunk. Jadhav and his friends were there at the shakha till late night, solving math problems. Work their party did in that colony... how many voted for them from there...
