10 Rarely Known Facts About Shiv Sena Founder Bal Thackeray

Bal Keshav Thackeray was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a Hindu right-wing Marathi ethnocentric party. He was born on 19th June 1926 in Pune at Bombay Presidency. He was the eldest of nine siblings and his political philosophy was largely shaped by his father Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, a leading figure in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, which advocated the creation of a separate linguistic state.

There is a lot to write about him and no doubt a lot of it is written on him through books. There is also a film coming on him named ‘Thackeray The Film’ in Hindi, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a prominent role. It is a drama directed by Abhijit Panse.

He began to be known as Hindu Hruday Samrat which means Emperor of the Hindu hearts and was given a public funeral which was the first in Mumbai after Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s funeral in 1920.

Let’s move on to the facts about Shiv Sena Founder Bal Thackeray which are less known:

1. Thackeray had a third son Bindumadhav who died in a car crash in 1996.

2. Balasaheb was initially a cartoonist with The Free Press Journal in Mumbai but due to differences with management he quit.

3. He fought for the cause of Sanjay Dutt related to TADA case and gave him clean chit. As actor-turned-politician late Sunil Dutt kept his promise of not contesting Lok Sabha elections against Sena and twice he opted out of the poll arena after seeking help for his son Sanjay in the Mumbai blast case.

4. Although anti-congress later in his life, he applauded Indira Gandhi on her effort to free Bangladesh and considers her the best Prime Minister.

5. Bal Thackeray once criticized the proposal to have a 22-crore throne for Shirdi Sai Baba. He suggested the amount be used for charity instead.

6. He coined the term Remote Control in politics for the first time when Shivsena-BJP was in power in Maharashra from 1995-1999.

7. Yanda Gundu a derogatory term for South Indians was popularized by Thackeray.

8. He openly admired Adolf Hitler and was an anti-communist

9. Bal Thackeray gifted Amitabh Bachchan with a cartoon with the name ‘Defeating Yamraaj’ when he was recovering from the Coolie Injury.

10. On July 28, 1999 Thackeray was banned from voting and contesting in any election for six years from December 11, 1999 till December 10, 2005 on the recommendations of the Election Commission.