Bossi's farewell reignites debate in the League over his legacy

'The message and ideas of Umberto Bossi are not dead'. After the disappearance of the Senatur, the people and the leaders of the League return to discuss the thoughts of the founder of the League, for many years now distant from the line and choices of the top leadership. The farewell to the 'boss' is the occasion on Radio Libertà, heir of Radio Padania Libera and historic megaphone of the party, to bring to the surface the distinctions between today's Lega, transformed a long time ago into a national party, and that of the Northerners closer to the slogan 'Padroni a casa nostra' (Masters in our own house) of Bossian inspiration.

It is no mystery that relations between Salvini and Bossi have never been idyllic. On the contrary.  The Lega Nord leader spent an hour and a half with the Senatur's family in the small villa in Gemonio, to which he had not returned since September 2025, paying tribute to his founding father on the one hand ('you changed my life, we will continue on your path', 'we are all here thanks to his idea, he leaves a great legacy') and on the other hand taking the field to keep the point on his national sovereignist project. When some listeners point out the differences, or the alleged 'betrayals' of Umberto's teachings, the Lega Lega secretary defends himself by invoking the different eras: 'The battles of '95 are one thing. We had the lira in our pockets and there was another Europe. Now we are in 2026'. And then he retorts by boasting today's numbers: 'Compared to the 1990s when the League was in Veneto and Lombardy, we now have 500 mayors from Sicily to Abruzzo. Trials of balancing the past and the future to hold together the federalism invoked by Bossi and the sovereignty chosen today by his leadership.

'Being identitarian and federalist in Italia means necessarily being sovereignist in Europe', is Salvini's line, convinced that it is 'a due and proper mix'. So much so that he invites everyone to the League's demonstration on 18 April in front of Milan cathedral with the European Patriots, and he links it to Bossian thought, dedicating it precisely to the Senatur. The theme of the initiative is freedom and identity and the secretary explains: 'We have used a phrase used by Bossi, namely "Masters in our own house", declined - he explains - in both a national and European version with respect to the distortions of Brussels.

Yet the entire northern wing of the party, linked to the Lega of its origins, returns to beat especially on the northern question and the defence of identity, so dear to the Senatur. The former governor of Veneto Luca Zaia relaunches: 'His message and ideas are not dead, we have a moral duty to keep them alive. If politics has had to deal with a 'northern question', it was largely thanks to the hoarse voice of Umberto who was its megaphone. If today in Italia there is a widespread federalist conscience, starting with the one that identifies with differentiated autonomy, it is thanks to the commitment of someone like Bossi who saw further than others'. Although he then points out: . "It is not the North that must say thank you to Umberto Bossi but the whole countryThe question of the South and the North make sense together and remain cogent in our country and in our party. They are like Siamese twins: the life of one is linked to the other and whoever theorises another solution is wrong',

'For me he was truly a second father, from a human point of view and then from a political point of view. And as a minister, today, I want to carry through his most important political legacy: autonomy for the territories,' stressed Roberto Calderoli instead.