Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anand Dubey resigns, citing party's ideological drift

Shiv Sena (UBT) national spokesperson Anand Dubey has resigned from the primary membership of the party, criticising the Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit for abandoning its core ideological roots and failing to speak up on matters of national pride.

Dubey, who served as a prominent Hindi-speaking voice representing the party in Maharashtra and across national broadcast debates, announced his departure on Monday. He said the decision followed months of internal friction and a growing inability to champion the principles of Hindutva from within the opposition outfit.

Why Anand Dubey quit Uddhav Thackeray's party

Dubey pointed directly to the party's silence following an averted aviation disaster involving Captain Smit Machchhar, who helped thwart an alleged hijack attempt by an Omani co-pilot aboard a flydubai service bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with the injured pilot by video call.

"My hero is Smit Machchhar, the man who demonstrated to the entire world, not just India, the immense power of Bajrangbali," Dubey said in comments to ANI. "Yet, not a single tweet came from our party."

Machchhar had shared that he recited the Hanuman Chalisa while dealing with the mid-air crisis. For Dubey, the party leadership's refusal to publicly acknowledge the Indian pilot reflected a troubling reluctance to celebrate figures who display national resolve.

Dubey also broke cleanly with the opposition alliance's sustained campaign alleging manipulation by the Election Commission. He dismissed claims made by the Shiv Sena (UBT) and other members of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) bloc that elections were being compromised in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

"They claim that votes were stolen," Dubey said. "Votes are not being stolen; it is the minds of some people that have been stolen. My heroes are not Sharjeel Imam or Umar Khalid; my hero is not Dhruv Rathee."

Discontent inside the opposition alliance

Dubey said his resignation was not a hasty move, but the culmination of months spent feeling politically constrained.

"For several months, I had been suffering in silence, feeling deeply distressed," he said, explaining that after four to five years articulating the party's official line on state and national matters, he could no longer reconcile his beliefs with its current direction. "I find myself unable to voice the very ideals of Hindutva and Sanatan Dharma that I hold so dear."

His departure delivers an organisational blow to the Shiv Sena (UBT), which has struggled to preserve its traditional support base while aligned with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) in the MVA alliance. The political realignment began when the undivided Shiv Sena severed ties with the BJP in 2019, followed by an internal split in 2022 that saw Eknath Shinde form a government with the BJP.

As the ruling Mahayuti coalition emphasises political stability and development delivery across Maharashtra, departures from the opposition ranks underline the enduring friction inside an alliance increasingly detached from its original nationalist plank. Dubey has resigned both his primary membership and his post as national spokesperson. He has not yet stated what his next political step will be.