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All about Bal Thackeray: The unorthodox leader

Born in January 1926, Balasaheb Thackeray happens to be the founder of the Shiv Sena party in the state of Maharashtra.

All about Bal Thackeray: The unorthodox leader
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On the eight death anniversary of the legendary Balasaheb Thackeray, we aim to look back into the life of Balasaheb, the man who stood for the rights of indigenous Marathi speakers.

Born in January 1926, Thackeray was the founder of the Shiv Sena party in the state of Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena stalwart had formed the party in a bid to challenge the presence of south Indian migrants in the city back in the 1960s. As a former cartoonist working alongside RK Laxman, flamboyance was rooted in Balasaheb Thackeray’s personality that seldom refrained from expressing opinions. His sharp statements made people across the state look up to him and at a local level, it was his ability to change things, transforming spoken words into actions that contributed to the early success of the Shiv Sena party.

Through Marmik, Thackeray campaigned against the growing influence of the non-Marathi’s in Bombay as he drew pictures of Indian politics and society, illustrating the plight of the Marathi people. Often referred to as a mascot of Marathi pride, Balasaheb Thackeray had the ability to rouse extreme emotions and a sense of belonging that made him the cultural icon that he is today.

However, the turning point in Thackery's politics came when he decided to strike an alliance with the BJP in 1995 and formed the government in the state for the first time after toning down his pro-Marathi ideology, embracing a broader Hindu nationalistic agenda. Even though he is often criticized as being jingoistic with divisive opinions, it is pertinent to remember that it is only through the works of Bal Thackeray that the Mumbai-Pune expressway ranks first among the few notable accomplishments that the maiden Sena-BJP had achieved.

In current times, although the Shiv Sena’s primary base is in the state of Maharashtra, it has tried to expand to a Pan-Indian base.

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