Death anniversary special | Know about Bal Thackeray’s controversial legacy

Mumbai: Bal Thackeray, also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra.

Thackeray was called 'Balasaheb' and Hindu Hruday Samrat ("Emperor of Hindu Hearts") by his supporters. His yearly address at Shivaji Park was popular among his followers. In 2012, he instead gave a video-taped speech and urged his followers "to give the same love and affection to his son and political heir Uddhav as they had given him".

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Thackeray was known to convert popular sentiment into votes, getting into controversies and making no apologies for it though his son has tried to tone down the party's stance after his death. He was known for his inflammatory writings, was seen as a good orator who used cruel humour to engage his audience. He had a large political influence throughout the state, especially in Mumbai.

Bal Thackeray and his controversial legacy

Thackeray said that Afzal was sentenced to death by the highest court in this country and yet the file has been sitting on President's table for years.

Bal Thackeray, who worked as a cartoonist in the 'Free Press Journal' attacked the Congress using his cartoons. He had targeted the then social activist who became the prime minister of the country later, Morarji Desai, after 15 people were killed in the police firing on November 21, 1955, during a morcha at the Flora Fountain. Balasaheb sketched Desai as a Nar Bhakshak (man-eater) in his cartoon.

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In 2002, Thackeray issued a call to form Hindu suicide bomber squads to in response to Islamist suicide bombers and other violence. Following the Mumbai riots, Thackeray has taken stances viewed as anti-Muslim. However, he has also declared that he is "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 traitors."

Again in 2008, Thackeray 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." He has 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."

In 2008, Bal Thackeray had issued an editorial titled Ek Bihari, Sau Bimari saying Biharis were 'an unwanted lot' in Maharashtra.

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In the same year, following agitation againt Biharis and other north Indians travelling to Maharashtra to take civil service examinations for the Indian Railways due to an over limit of the quota in their home provinces, Thackeray 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 criticised Chath Pooja an holiday celebrated by Biharis and those from eastern Uttar Pradesh which occurs six days after the Hindu New Year. He said that it was not a real holiday. This was reportedly a response to MPs from Bihar who had disrupted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha in protest against the attacks on North Indians.

Bal Thackeray came amidst a spate of controversies when he targeted Gujaratis, Marwaris, and South Indians living in Mumbai for snatching jobs and depriving native Mumbaikars from their source of livelihood. His party, Shiv Sena, started shunning North Indians, especially those belonging to UP and Bihar, for infiltrating India's financial capital.

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In 2010, Bal Thackeray said, in a statement universally slammed, that the tennis star Sania Mirza was not famous for her on-court abilities but for her “tight clothes, fashion and love affairs". "If she wished to play for India, she should have chosen an Indian life partner. Had her heart been Indian, it wouldn't have married a Pakistani," said Thackeray.

End of Bal Thackeray’s era

Thackeray died on 17 November 2012 as a consequence of a cardiac arrest. Mumbai came to a virtual halt immediately as the news broke out about his death, with shops and commercial establishments shutting down. The entire state of Maharashtra was put on high alert. The police appealed for calm and 20,000 Mumbai police officers, 15 units of the State Reserve Police Force and three contingents of the Rapid Action Force were deployed.It was reported that Shiv Sena workers forced shops to close down in some areas.