Sena (UBT) launches podcast to reach out to voters, cadres

Mumbai: In a bid to reach out and explain its stand on various issues to party cadres and supporters, the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday launched its own podcast called ‘Awaaj Kunacha?’ (Whose Voice?). For the first episode, the party chose the topic of disqualification of the Sena’s rebel MLAs and the Supreme Court order to counter the narrative that the Shinde-Fadnavis government was stable. The party claimed that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his supporting MLAs would be disqualified.

Anil Parab, Uddhav Thackeray’s close aide and one of party’s legal brains, explained the disqualification issue in detail in an interview with popular television host and actor Aadesh Bandekar. Parab, while sharing details of the Supreme Court order, said that the speaker of the assembly had no choice but to disqualify Shinde and the MLAs supporting him. He also declared that the loyalty of leaders and party workers like him was always with ‘Matoshree’, which is the residence of the Thackeray family and a metaphor for the Sena.

The podcast is being seen as an attempt to retain party workers and functionaries even as CM Shinde reportedly tries to lure them away. Sainath Durge, a member of the Yuva Sena core committee, is co-ordinating the whole exercise. “It will be an issue-based podcast, and as of now, the frequency is not decided. Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray will take a decision on that,” said Durge.

“A podcast is the new medium our party will use, as digital media are equally important nowadays to reach out to people,” said Parab. “Different issues keep coming up, and party workers could have doubts about them. Our podcasts will clear all the doubts in the minds of workers and supporters about various issues related to the party and politics.”

Aadesh Bandekar said that this new medium would be used by the party to address various subjects and issues in the political-social life of Maharashtra. “This was the first podcast. The party will decide the frequency and format of future podcasts,” he said.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) will celebrate its Foundation Day on June 19. On Monday evening, Aaditya Thackeray, who came up with the idea of the podcast, released a teaser on his official Twitter handle.

After the split in the Shiv Sena, the Thackeray faction has increased its presence on digital platforms to counter the war of perception regarding the strength of the two factions and which one is the “real Shiv Sena”. In the last few months, the Sena (UBT) has started a video series on its YouTube channel called the ‘Journey of our Shiv Sena’, which has informative videos on the party’ s journey from 1966. The podcast is its latest step in exploring digital media for political purposes.