Biography of Bal Thackeray-Indian- “Shiv Sena” Indian Political Party Founder

Date of Birth: 23rd January 1926 at  Pune, Maharashtra

Date of Death: 17th November 2012 at the age of 86 years at  Mumbai

Father: Keshav Sitaram Thackeray /known as  Prabodhankar Thackeray

Known As: The Hindu Hriday Samraat/”Emperor of Hindu Hearts”

Occupation:

A cartoonist with the English Daily “The Free Press Journal” in Mumbai. His cartoons were also published in the Sunday edition of “The Times of India” In the year 1960 Formed his own political weekly “Marmik”
Founder and Pramukh/Chief of the Shiv Sena Party ( The  right-wing Marathi ethnocentric party active mainly in the State of  Maharashtra)

Bal Thackeray formed the “Shiv Sena” on 19th  June 1966 to fight for the rights of the natives of the state of Maharashtra.

Bal Thackeray’s ‘Shiv Sena’ party  was anti-communist and he had been against all the ‘Non-Maharashtrians’ and especially ‘Muslims’.

However, according to Bal Thackeray  he had never been against Muslims and they only protected them and Shiv Sena’s women Sainiks fought to save Muslim colonies and they fought  only against those Muslims who came against them.

It is notable that Bal Thackeray’s grand -daughter got married to a Gujarathi muslim.

And his personal physician of Bal Thackery was a muslim-Dr.Jalil Parkar.

Shiv Sena had allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party/BJP and the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won
the  Maharashtra State Assembly elections- 1995 and came to power and was in power from 1995 to 1999.

Bal Thackeray had been banned from voting and contesting in any election for six years from 11 December 1999 till 10 December 2005 on the recommendations of the Election Commission for indulging in corrupt practice by seeking votes in the name of religion.

In the year 2006, Bal Thackeray’s nephew Raj Thackeray got separated from Bal Thackeray/Shiv Sena and formed the “Maharashtra Navnirman Sena”/MNS.

So, on his retirement from active politics in the year 2006 Bal Thackeray appointed his son, Uddhav Thackeray  as the leader of Shiv Sena.

When Bal Thackeray died on 17th November 2012, he was accorded a state funeral at Shivaji Park
on 19th November 2012, attended by about  2 million people.

The senior representatives of the Maharashtra Government were present in the funeral and cremation and event was broadcast live on national television channels.Though, Bal Thackeray had not held held any official position, he was given the 21-gun salute.

Bal Thackeray is one of the few people to have been given state funeral without being a member of either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. 

The funeral expenses created controversies when media reports claimed that the Bombay Municipal Corporation/BMC  had used taxpayers’ money.

In response to these reports, the Shiv Sena party later sent a cheque of Rs 5,00,000 to the Bomay Municipal Corporation.

Quotes of Bal Thackeray:

“For Bal Thackeray   the interests of Maharashtra were particularly important and he always strived to inculcate a sense of pride in its people. He founded the Shiv Sena and built the party into a formidable force in the State politics with his strong leadership. Bal Thackeray was a consummate communicator, whose stature in the politics of Maharashtra was unique.
-Dr.Manmohan Singh-Prime Minister of India

 “A political giant has departed. It is rare that I have seen in these 65 years of independent India, a political leader who has left such a deep imprint on the country’s events as Bal Thackeray.”-
L.K.Advani- BJP Leader