Bal Thackeray

Some Lesser Known Facts About Bal Thackeray

• Did Bal Thackeray smoke?: Yes 

• Did Bal Thackeray drink alcohol?: Yes 

• His father, Keshav Thackeray, was a social reformer and journalist who was known as Prabodhankar because of his magazine Prabodhan.

• In his childhood, he lost his mother.

• His father, Keshav Thackeray was an advocate for the creation of a unified State called Maharashtra with Mumbai as its capital.

• He had to quit his studies as his family faced financial crisis.

• Thackeray started off as a cartoonist in a Mumbai-based newspaper- Free Press Journal. However, due to creative differences, he quit the job in the late 1950s. 

• The Times of India used to publish his cartoons in its Sunday edition. 

• In 1960, along with his brother Srikant, he launched a cartoon weekly- Marmik and used it as a campaign against the non-Marathi people in Mumbai. The magazine, Marmik, was on the lines of the British magazine, Punch, which advocated sons-of-the-soil agenda. 

• He started another daily- News Day, along with George Fernandes (politician) and other 4 or 5 people. However, it survived only a few months.

• He wrote for Marathi publication under the pen name “Mavla.” 

• On 19 June 1966, prompted with the success of Marmik, he formed the Shiv Sena; named after the 17th century Maratha king- Shivaji. 

• The initial objective of Shiv Sena was to ensure the job security of the local Marathi-speaking natives of Maharashtra competing against the South Indians and Gujaratis.

• The Shiv Sena saw its first victory in the 1967 Thane Municipal Council elections. 

• Shiv Sena grew in the next 10 years. However, during the 1970s local elections, it could not succeed, mainly because it was active only in Bombay compared to the rest of the State. 

• With the passage of time, Bal Thackeray and his party started violent tactics with attacks against migrants, media, and the rival parties, destroying public and private property. 

• Initially, Thackeray supported the Indian National Congress. However, by the 1980s, it became a threat to the ruling Congress party.

• In 1989, Bal Thackeray launched Saamna, the so-called Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece. 

• The Shiv Sena was recognized as a political party in 1989 with Bow and Arrow as its official election symbol. 

• Bal Thackeray opposed the recommendations of Mandal Commission, and because of which his close aid Chhagan Bhujbal left the Shiv Sena in 1991.

• Following the 1992 Bombay riots, Thackeray started campaigning against Muslims and adopted an extreme Hindutva ideology, which led to its closeness with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

• The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance won the 1995 Maharashtra State Assembly elections and remained in power from 1995 to 1999. In the government, Thackeray declared himself to be the “remote control” chief minister. 

•  The Srikrishna Commission Report blamed Thackeray and the Shiv Sena for inciting the 1992-1993 riots. 

• In 1996, Michael Jackson had visited Bal Thackeray and autographed the toilet seat that he used. 

• On 28 July 1999, The Election Commission banned Thackeray from voting and contesting in any election for 6 years from 11 December 1999 till 10 December 2005 for indulging in corrupt practice by seeking votes in the name of religion.

• In 2004, he handed over the reins of Shiv Sena to his son Uddhav Thackeray and appointed him party’s working President.

• Uddhav Thackeray’s promotion to party’s working President was a shocker for Raj Thackeray who was seen as Thackeray’s political heir.

• The Shiv Sena split twice, 1st in 2005 when Narayan Rane walked out with his supporters, 2nd in 2006 when estranged Raj Thackeray chose to break away and formed the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

• Bal Thackeray voted for the first time in the 2007 BMC elections after the 6 year ban was lifted in 2005. 

• At the Dussehra rally in 2010, Bal Thackeray introduced his grandson Aditya as the chief of the new Sena youth outfit Yuva Sena.

• As the news broke out about his death on 17 November 2012, Mumbai came to a virtual halt immediately, with commercial establishments and shops shutting down.

• Bal Thackeray was accorded a State funeral at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. It was the 1st public funeral in the city since that of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1920.

• Although he did not hold any official position, Bal Thackeray was given the 21-gun salute.

• A Bollywood film series “Sarkaar,” directed by Ram Gopal Verma, was loosely based on his life in which Amitabh Bachchan played the role of Bal Thackeray.

• In 2017, another Bollywood film was announced titled Thackeray with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in and as Bal Thackeray.

• Here’s a conversation with Bal Thackeray: