Eknath Shinde

Eknath Sambhaji Shinde (pronunciation: [eknaːt̪ʰ ʃin̪d̪e]; born 9 February 1964 ) is an Indian politician who is serving as the 20th and current Chief Minister of Maharashtra since 30 June 2022. He is also serving as the Leader of Shiv Sena since February 2023 and the Leader of the House, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly since July 2022. He is also the Member of Legislative Assembly for the Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency of Thane, Maharashtra since 2009 and was formerly the MLA of Thane constituency from 2004 to 2009.

Early life
Shinde hails from the Dare Village, Jawali taluka in Satara, Maharashtra, and belongs to the Maratha community. His family moved to Thane (in the Mumbai outskirts). He studied until 11th standard at Mangala High School & Junior College, Thane. Shinde left school to support his family, however, he resumed his education in 2014 after joining the government ministry. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University in 2020.

Shinde was awarded D.Litt. (Doctor of Literature) by D Y Patil University at the convocation of the university in Navi Mumbai on 28 March 2023, at the hands of Maharashtra governor Ramesh Bais and University chancellor Dr Vijay Patil.

Entry into politics
Shinde was introduced to politics by then Thane Shivsena President Anand Dighe in early 1980. Initially, he was leading the Shiv Sena agitation in the Wagle Industrial Estate. He became one of the prominent labour leader in the region. After recognition from Dighe, in 1984 he became a Sakha Pramukh in the Thane. In 1997, he was elected to the Thane Municipal Corporation as a corporator for the first time. Shinde became successor to Dighe's legacy after his death in 2001. Later in 2001 he was elected to the post of the Leader of the House of the Thane Municipal Corporation. In 2002 he was re-elected to the Thane Municipal Corporation for the second time.

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly & ministries
He has been elected as Member of Legislative Assembly since 2004 for four consecutive terms.
 * 2004 : Elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the first time
 * 2005 : Appointed as the Thane district head of Shiv Sena. First MLA to have been appointed at such a coveted post in the party
 * 2009 : Re-elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
 * 2014 : Re-elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
 * October 2014 – December 2014: Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly** 2014 – 2019: Cabinet Minister of PWD (PU) in Maharashtra State Government
 * 2014 – 2019: Appointed as the guardian minister of Thane District
 * 2018 : Appointed as a Leader of Shiv Sena Party
 * 2019 : Cabinet Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare (सार्वजनिक आरोग्य आणि कुटुंब कल्याण) in Maharashtra State Government
 * 2019 : Elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the fourth consecutive time
 * 2019 : Appointed as the minister of Urban Development and Public Works (Public Undertakings)
 * 2019 : Appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs (Acting) (28 November 2019 – 30 December 2019)
 * 2020 : Appointed as the guardian minister of Thane district
 * 2022 : Appointed as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra by the Governor of Maharashtra.

Role in 2022 Maharashtra political crisis
Shinde was in favor of breaking the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance and reestablishing an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. He requested Uddhav Thackeray to break the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance due to ideological differences and unfair treatment by the Congress Party and NCP. His fellow Shiv Sena members said that their complaints were ignored by Uddhav Thackeray and Uddhav favored the Congress Party and NCP over his own Shiv Sena members. Shinde was able to gather 2/3rd of members from his party to support his request. The crisis began on 21 June 2022 when Shinde and several other MLAs of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition moved to Surat in BJP-governed Gujarat, throwing the coalition into a chaos. As a result of Shinde's revolt, Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the post of Chief Minister of Maharashtra and said that he will also resign from the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Shinde successfully reestablished an alliance with the BJP and was sworn in as the 20th Chief Minister, with Bharatiya Janata Party's Devendra Fadnavis as the Deputy Chief Minister.

Chief Minister
On 30 June 2022, Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, following a political crisis that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. His appointment came after he led a rebellion within the Shiv Sena party, aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a new government.

Electoral performance
Under Shinde's leadership, his faction of the Shiv Sena performed well in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The party secured 7 seats, demonstrating a higher success rate compared to their alliance partner, the BJP, which won 10 seats in Maharashtra. This electoral success helped consolidate Shinde's position within the state's political landscape.

Shiv Sena leadership dispute
After Eknath Shinde established the government, he started using the Shiv Sena name and symbols without Uddhav Thackrey's permission. This created issues as Uddhav Thackeray also claimed to be the leader of Shiv Sena. Uddhav's faction challenged this in court, which was eventually moved to the Election Commission of India. The Commission recognized Eknath Shinde's faction as the real Shiv Sena party, which ended the leadership dispute. The Election Commission also found the changes made to the Shiv Sena party constitution in 2018, under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, to be undemocratic. The amendments centralized the party's control and were criticized for not allowing free, fair, and transparent elections for the party positions.

Political legitimacy
On 4 February 2024, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar ruled that Shinde's faction was the "real Shiv Sena" political party. This decision was a significant setback for the rival faction led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The Speaker's ruling solidified Shinde's position as the leader of the Shiv Sena and strengthened his government's legitimacy.

Personal life
Shinde is married to Lata Shinde.

On 2 June 2000, their son Dipesh (aged 11, born 1989) and daughter Shubhada (aged 8, born 1992) went boating in a lake near their native village in Maharashtra. The boat overturned and both the children died by drowning. Shinde went into a period of depression for several months. Anand Dighe provided emotional support to Shinde and entrusted him with greater responsibility in order to keep his mind occupied and away from depression.

Their surviving child, Shrikant Shinde, is an orthopaedic surgeon who has also been the elected Member of Parliament to the Lok Sabha from the Kalyan constituency since 2014 (re-elected in 2019).

Popular culture
Dharmaveer, a 2022 Indian Marathi-language biographical drama film by Pravin Tarde, covered Anand Dighe and Eknath Shinde's life. Kshitish Date played the role of Eknath Shinde. Eknath Shinde has a starring role in Dharmaveer as one of Dighe’s most loyal foot soldiers.