Mumbai, June 12: Amid several MPs and legislators deserting the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after the party’s rout in the recently held state Assembly polls, the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Friday claimed that politics in the country has degenerated into a mere trade of self-interest.

It said that the voters cast their ballots based on a specific party symbol and ideology, expecting representation, only for self-serving political opportunists “to immediately jump from one plate to another for personal gain”. Much like the nursery rhyme ‘Hop along, little pumpkin’, these opportunistic politicians and their leaders hop all the way to Delhi.

The Thackeray camp, in an editorial in the party’s mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’, argued that just as various varieties of grapes and mangoes have been developed, new breeds of these volatile politicians have now emerged — and leading the pack is the ‘Saayoni Ghosh’ variety, a seed that will undoubtedly become famous as ‘Saayoni Seeds’.

The editorial stated that many are left wondering how to deal with characters like Saayoni Ghosh. “During the West Bengal Assembly election campaign, Ghosh made a name for herself with her sharp, fiery speeches. She crafted an image as a “mini-Mamata”, ripping into the BJP at every rally and proclaiming Mamata Banerjee as her mother figure. Consequently, when cracks began to appear in the Trinamool Congress parliamentary ranks, few expected her name to be on that list,” it added.

The editorial further stated, with fortunes shifting at Mamata’s camp, Saayoni Ghosh has abandoned her “mother figure” and the Trinamool Congress “to park her horse firmly inside the BJP stable. While the defecting TMC MPs have formed an independent group for now, they are bound to merge with the BJP sooner rather than later”.

According to the editorial, the irony is stark. “When Raghav Chadha, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP, abandoned his party to join the BJP, Ghosh had expressed immense fury over his betrayal. She lamented the complete loss of loyalty and morality in modern politics. When asked back then if she too would eventually defect to the BJP, an enraged Ghosh had snapped: ‘I am Ghosh, not Chadha, who would turn into a pair of shorts’. Today, however, she has metaphorically become that very entity, casting off her cloak of honesty to join the ranks of those dancing to the ruling party’s tunes,” it said.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena observed that unbridled ambition and betrayal turn politicians into “an eggplant on a plate – a turncoat.”

“This is no longer just an idiom; it has become the bitter reality of contemporary Indian politics. A turncoat politician, like an eggplant, can be mixed into any dish on the stove – from bharit (mashed eggplant) to bhajiyas (fritters); it possesses no distinct flavour of its own,” it commented.

The editorial said that Maharashtra’s political landscape has recently witnessed a bumper crop of such turncoat politicians, and their cultivation is being thoroughly nurtured. “The case of Saayoni Ghosh serves as an ideal case study. These ‘plate-hopping’ politicians change colours faster than chameleons – a phenomenon so rampant it could warrant a PhD research study. The style of opportunistic politics has flourished so heavily that everyone seems to want to become a turncoat. This marks a severe degradation of the country’s politics and ideology,” it noted.

“Ultimately, these politicians have become cheap and universally available commodities. Lacking an inherent spine or flavour, they soften and wilt the moment they are exposed to political pressure. They can no longer be trusted,” said the editorial.

Mumbai, June 12: In a major anti-narcotics operation, the Customs Department has arrested a 28-year-old woman at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport for allegedly attempting to smuggle a large quantity of hydroponic weed into the country. The seized contraband, weighing more than 11 kg, is estimated to be worth Rs 11.82 crore in the international market.

According to Customs officials, the woman arrived in Mumbai on a flight from Bangkok and came under suspicion during routine surveillance and passenger profiling. A detailed examination of her luggage led to the recovery of 12 vacuum-sealed transparent plastic packets concealed inside her trolley bag.

The packets were found to contain hydroponic weed, a high-grade form of cannabis. Officials said a total of 11.824 kg of the narcotic substance was seized during the operation. The accused, who reportedly worked as a relationship manager at a private company, was taken into custody following the recovery.

A case has been registered against her under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. She was subsequently produced before a court, which remanded her to judicial custody.

The seizure is part of a series of recent operations by Customs authorities aimed at curbing international drug trafficking through Indian airports.

Earlier, on June 8, customs officials at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport had foiled a major narcotics smuggling attempt by seizing 15.38 kg of suspected hydroponic weed concealed inside two geysers. Acting on specific intelligence inputs and passenger profiling, officers intercepted two passengers who had arrived from Kuala Lumpur on Flight D7-182. The passengers were stopped after crossing the Green Channel, and a detailed inspection led to the recovery of the contraband.

In another significant case on May 23, Customs officials at IGI Airport had intercepted two Thai nationals arriving from Bangkok on flight AI-2356 after they crossed the Customs Green Channel. Based on profiling inputs and suspicious travel patterns, officers carried out a detailed examination of their baggage.

The inspection resulted in the recovery of six vacuum-sealed packets suspected to contain hydroponic weed. Of the total seizure, approximately 29 kg was recovered from one passenger’s baggage, while around 19 kg was recovered from the second passenger.

Mumbai, June 12: Sunetra Pawar’s address at the Nationalist Congress Party’s 27th Foundation Day marks a clear shift in her leadership approach, underlining an effort to consolidate control within the party amid internal churn and external scrutiny.

Stepping out from the long-standing shadow of her late husband, Ajit Pawar, her “no-nonsense” posture signals an aggressive attempt to consolidate power within a party still reeling from internal shifts and external scrutiny.

The speech reflected a transition towards a more assertive and centralised leadership style, with Pawar signalling that accountability would be performance-driven and that indiscipline would not be tolerated.

Moving past the initial phase of mourning following the tragic demise of Ajit Pawar, she is shifting into an aggressive, transactional command structure.

Historically, the NCP’s machinery relied on Ajit Pawar’s micro-management — he knew local block leaders by name and personally handled administrative bottlenecks. Sunetra Pawar knows she cannot replicate that exact style overnight. By framing the party’s survival as a performance-based metric (“pull up socks”), she is shifting accountability downward.

Sunetra Pawar explicitly stated that she would follow Ajit Pawar’s example in taking tough, uncompromising organisational decisions. This is a calculated double-edged sword. By directly invoking her late husband’s legacy of decisive, iron-fisted administration, she seeks immediate legitimacy among loyalists who might otherwise view her as a reluctant or transitional leader.

She is transitioning her image from a grieving widow to a political enforcement mechanism, especially as critics claim that the NCP is functioning under the grip of the BJP, its junior partner in the MahaYuti. By warning that she “will not hesitate to take difficult decisions,” she is setting a clear baseline that her initial period of observing and understanding internal dynamics is officially over.

A major portion of her speech focused on a strict warning against “divisive politics” and caste-based rifts, while explicitly stating that public criticism or “unnecessary interference” that damages the party’s image will face a severe backlash.

She made it clear that while she respects the seniority, she will not operate as a puppet ruler or a placeholder. By stating that she has “understood and tolerated everything until now, but will no longer,” she is drawing a strict boundary between healthy consultation and undermining her ultimate authority as the party head and Deputy Chief Minister.

While framed outwardly as a commitment to secularism and social harmony, her rhetoric acts as an internal disciplinary firewall. The NCP has faced intense public and media scrutiny regarding its political alignments and ideological consistency. Sunetra Pawar is effectively telling the veterans and office-bearers to fall in line. Her warning signals that localised rogue strategies will no longer be tolerated if they compromise the central high command.

Co-signing the strategy highlighted by senior leader Praful Patel, Sunetra Pawar urged the cadre to intensely focus on building infrastructure in urban centers ahead of the impending delimitation (the redrawing of electoral constituency boundaries). This highlights a sharp pragmatic shift.

Historically, the NCP’s core strength has heavily relied on rural agrarian networks, cooperative sugar factories, and local banking systems. Recognising changing demographics, Pawar is attempting to modernise the party’s voter base. It shows a forward-looking calculus — she isn’t just fighting to preserve her current seat; she is planning for an altered electoral map where cities will hold the ultimate veto power in Maharashtra.

Sunetra Pawar’s speech was less about celebrating a foundation day and more about asserting absolute authority. By declaring her willingness to be unpopular for the sake of the organization, she has drawn a clear line in the sand. The coming months will show whether the NCP cadre views this as a genuine strength or overcompensation.

Political observers said that Sunetra Pawar’s speech is a calculated preemptive strike against internal dissent. She has recognized that showing vulnerability or overly relying on an emotional sympathy wave will cause the NCP’s powerful regional bosses to partition the party among themselves.

By threatening a purge of the underperforming and the intrusive, she has staked everything on absolute dominance. “It is a high-risk, high-reward strategy: she will either successfully tame the party’s warring factions, or accelerate its fragmentation,” they remarked.