Bal Thackeray

The success of Marmik prompted Thackeray to form the Shiv Sena on 19 June 1966. The name Shiv Sena (Shivaji's Army) is a reference to the 17th century Maratha Emperor Shivaji. Initially, Thackeray said it was not a political party but an army of Shivaji Maharaj, inclined to fight for the Marathi manoos (person).[22] It demanded that native speakers of the state's local language Marathi (the "sons of the soil" movement) be given preferential treatment in private and public sector jobs. The early objective of the Shiv Sena was to ensure their job security competing against South Indians and Gujaratis.[18] In its 1966 party manifesto, Thackeray primarily blamed south Indians.[23] In Marmik, Thackeray published a list of corporate officials from a local directory, many being south Indians, citing it as proof that Maharashtrians were being discriminated against.[22]

His party grew in the next ten years. Senior leaders such as Babasaheb Purandare, chief attorney for Trade Union of Maharashtra Madhav Mehere joined the party and chartered accountant Madhav Gajanan Deshpande backed various aspects of the party operations. In 1969, Thackeray and Manohar Joshi were jailed after participating in a protest demanding the merger of Karwar, Belgaum and Nipani regions in Maharashtra.[24] During the 1970s, it did not succeed in the local elections and it was active mainly in Mumbai, compared to the rest of the state. The party set up local branch offices and settled disputes, complaints against the government.[11] It later started violent tactics with attacks against rival parties, migrants and the media; the party agitated by destroying public and private property.[4][25] Thackeray publicly supported Indira Gandhi during the 1975 Emergency to avoid getting arrested; Thackeray supported the Congress party numerous times.[18]

Dr. Hemchandra Gupte, Mayor of Mumbai and the former family physician and confidant of Thackeray, left Shiv Sena in 1976 citing the emphasis given to money, violence committed by the Shiv Sena members, and Thackeray's support for Indira Gandhi and the 1975 emergency.[26]

Politically, the Shiv Sena was anti-communist, and wrested control of trade unions in Mumbai from the Communist Party of India (CPI). Local unemployed youth from the declining textile industry joined the party[25] and it further expanded because of Marathi migrants from the Konkan region.[18] By the 1980s, it became a threat to the ruling Congress party which had initially encouraged it because of it rivalling the CPI. In 1989, the Sena's newspaper Saamna was launched by Thackeray.[27] Because of Thackeray being against the Mandal Commission report, his close aide Chhagan Bhujbal left the party in 1991. Following the 1992 Bombay riots, Thackeray took stances viewed as anti-Muslim and based on Hindutva.[4] Shiv Sena later allied itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won the 1995 Maharashtra State Assembly elections and were in power from 1995 to 1999. Thackeray declared himself to be the "remote control" chief minister.[4][28]

Thackeray and the Chief Minister Manohar Joshi were explicitly named for inciting the Shivsainiks for violence against Muslims during the 1992–1993 riots in an inquiry ordered by the government of India, the Srikrishna Commission Report.[6][5]

Thackeray had influence in the film industry. His party workers agitated against films he found controversial and would disrupt film screenings, causing losses. Bombay, a 1995 film on the riots, was opposed by them.[18]

On 28 July 1999, Thackeray was 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.[29][30] In 2000, he was arrested for his role in the riots but was released because the statute of limitations expired.[9] In 2002, Thackeray issued a call to form Hindu suicide bomber squads to take on the menace of terrorism.[31] In response, the Maharashtra government registered a case against him for inciting enmity between different groups.[32] At least two organisations founded and managed by retired Indian Army officers, Lt Col Jayant Rao Chitale and Lt Gen. P.N. Hoon (former commander-in-chief of the Western Command), responded to the call with such statements as not allowing Pakistanis to work in India due to accusations against Pakistan for supporting attacks in India by militants.[33][34] After the six-year voting ban on Thackeray was lifted in 2005, he voted for the first time in the 2007 BMC elections.[35] Eight or nine cases against Thackeray and Saamna for inflammatory writings were not investigated by the government.[18]

Thackeray said that the Shiv Sena had helped the Marathi people in Mumbai, especially in the public sector.[36] Thackeray believed that Hindus must be organised to struggle against those who oppose their identity and religion.[37] Opposition leftist parties alleged that the Shiv Sena has done little to solve the problem of unemployment facing a large proportion of Maharashtrian youth during its tenure, in contradiction to its ideological foundation of 'sons of the soil.'[38]

In 2006, Thackeray's nephew Raj Thackeray broke away from Shiv Sena to form the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) during Thackeray's retirement and appointment of his son, Uddhav rather than Raj as the leader of Shiv Sena. Narayan Rane also quit around that time.[39]

The Sena acted as a "moral police" and opposed Valentine's Day celebrations.[18] On 14 February 2006, Thackeray condemned and apologised for the violent attacks by its Shiv Sainiks on a private celebration in Mumbai. "It is said that women were beaten up in the Nallasopara incident. If that really happened, then it is a symbol of cowardice. I have always instructed Shiv Sainiks that in any situation women should not be humiliated and harassed."[40] Thackeray and the Shiv Sena remained opposed to it, although they indicated support for an Indian alternative.[41][42]

In 2007, he was briefly arrested and let out on bail after referring to Muslims as 'Green Poison' during a Shiv Sena rally.[9]

On 27 March 2008, in protest to Thackeray's editorial, leaders of Shiv Sena in Delhi resigned, citing its outrageous conduct towards non-Marathis in Maharashtra and announced that they would form a separate party.[43] Addressing a press conference, Shiv Sena's North India chief Jai Bhagwan Goyal said the decision to leave the party was taken because of the partial attitude of the party high command towards Maharashtrians. Goyal further said that Shiv Sena is no different from Khalistan and Jammu and Kashmir militant groups which are trying to create a rift between people along regional lines. The main aim of these forces is to split our country. Like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, the Shiv Sena too has demeaned North Indians and treated them inhumanely.[43][44]

Thackeray was criticised for his praise[45][46] of Adolf Hitler.[4] He was quoted by Asiaweek as saying: "I am a great admirer of Hitler, and I am not ashamed to say so! I do not say that I agree with all the methods he employed, but he was a wonderful organiser and orator, and I feel that he and I have several things in common...What India really needs is a dictator who will rule benevolently, but with an iron hand."[47] In a 1993 interview, Thackeray stated, "There is nothing wrong if Muslims are treated as Jews were in Nazi Germany." In another 1992 interview, Thackeray stated, "If you take Mein Kampf and if you remove the word 'Jew' and put in the word 'Muslim', that is what I believe in".[48] Indian Express published an interview on 29 January 2007: "Hitler did very cruel and ugly things. But he was an artist, I love him [for that]. He had the power to carry the whole nation, the mob with him. You have to think what magic he had. He was a miracle...The killing of Jews was wrong. But the good part about Hitler was that he was an artist. He was a daredevil. He had good qualities and bad. I may also have good qualities and bad ones."[49][50]

Thackeray also declared that he was not against every Muslim, but only those who reside in this country but do not obey the laws of the land...I consider such people [to be] traitors.[51] The Shiv Sena is viewed by the media as being anti-Muslim, though Shiv sena members officially reject this accusation.[52] When explaining his views on Hindutva, he conflated Islam with violence and called on Hindus to fight terrorism and fight Islam.[53] In an interview with Suketu Mehta, he called for the mass expulsion of illegal Bangladeshi Muslim migrants from India and for a visa system to enter Mumbai, the Indian National Congress state government had earlier during the Indira Gandhi declared national emergency considered a similar measure.[54][55]

He told India Today "[Muslims] are spreading like a cancer and should be operated on like a cancer. The country...should be saved from the Muslims and the police should support them [Hindu Maha Sangh] in their struggle just like the police in Punjab were sympathetic to the Khalistanis."[56] However, in an interview in 1998, he said that his stance had changed on many issues that the Shiv Sena had with Muslims, particularly regarding the Babri Mosque or Ram Janmabhoomi issue:[57] "We must look after the Muslims and treat them as part of us."[57] He also expressed admiration for Muslims in Mumbai in the wake of the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists. In response to threats made by Abu Azmi, a leader of the Samajwadi Party, that accusations of terrorism directed at Indian Muslims would bring about communal strife, Thackeray said that the unity of Mumbaikars (residents of Mumbai) in the wake of the attacks was a slap to fanatics of Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi and that Thackeray salute[s] those Muslims who participated in the two minutes' silence on 18 July to mourn the blast victims.[58] Again in 2008 he wrote: "Islamic terrorism is growing and Hindu terrorism is the only way to counter it. We need suicide bomb squads to protect India and Hindus."[59] He also reiterated a desire for Hindus to unite across linguistic barriers to see a Hindustan for Hindus and to bring Islam in this country down to its knees.[60]

In 2008, following agitation against Biharis and other north Indians travelling to Maharashtra to take civil service examinations for the Indian Railways due to an overlimit of the quota in their home provinces, Thackeray also said of Bihari MPs that they were spitting in the same plate from which they ate when they criticised Mumbaikars and Maharashtrians. He wrote: "They are trying to add fuel to the fire that has been extinguished, by saying that Mumbaikars have rotten brains." He also criticised Chhath Puja, a holiday celebrated by Biharis and those from eastern Uttar Pradesh, which occurs on six days of the Hindu month of Kartik. He said that it was not a real holiday.[61] This was reportedly a response to MPs from Bihar who had disrupted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha in protest to the attacks on North Indians.[61] Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, upset with the remarks, called on the prime minister and the central government to intervene in the matter. A Saamna editorial prompted at least 16 MPs from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, belonging to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party and the Indian National Congress, to give notice for breach of privilege proceedings against Thackeray.[61] After the matter was raised in the Lok Sabha, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said: "If anybody has made any comment on our members' functioning in the conduct of business in the House, not only do we treat that with the contempt that it deserves, but also any action that may be necessary will be taken according to procedure and well established norms. Nobody will be spared.'"[61]

In 2009, he criticised Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, a "Marathi icon", for saying he was an Indian before he was a Maharashtrian.[9]

Thackeray firmly opposed caste based reservation and said - "There are only two castes in the world, the rich are rich and the poor is poor, make the poor rich but don't make the rich poor. Besides these two castes I don't believe in any other casteism." The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) supported caste based reservations based on the Mandal commission. Thackarey, despite being warned that opposition to the reservations would be politically suicidal for the Shiv Sena party, opposed the BJP over this issue and said he would initiate divorce proceedings against the BJP if the BJP supported caste based reservations. This also led to his conflict with Chhagan Bhujbal, an OBC, who later left the Shiv Sena.[62][63]

Thackeray defended Veer Savarkar against criticism and praised him as a great leader. In 2002, when President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam unveiled a portrait of Savarkar in the presence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Congress Party opposed the unveiling of the portrait and boycotted the function. Thackeray criticised the opposition and said, "Who is [Congress president and Leader of the Opposition] Sonia Gandhi to object to the portrait? What relation does she have with the country? How much does she know about the history and culture of India?". Years later, when Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh made a statement that Savarkar was the first to suggest the two-nation theory that led to the partition, Thackeray defended Savarkar and accused Singh of distorting history.[64][65]

In 1990, Bal Thackeray got seats reserved in engineering colleges for the children of Kashmiri Pandits in Maharashtra.[66] He was one of the first persons to help them after which Punjab also followed suit. At a meeting with them he supported the idea that the Kashmiri Pandits could be armed for their self-defence against Jihadis.[67][68][69]