Short Biography of Bal Thackeray 51 Facts Stories about Bal Thackeray Shiv Sena Chief

Short Biography of Bal Thackeray 51 Facts Stories about Bal Thackeray Shiv Sena Chief

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Name - Bal Keshav Thackeray Known as Hinduhriday Samraat Balasaheb Thackeray or Tiger

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Birth Date - 23 January 1926
Died on Saturday, November 17, 2012

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Birth Place - Pune, Maharashtra , 
few websites mention as Pune and few mention outside Maharashtra.

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Political Party – Shiv Sena

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Spouse(s) - Mina Thackeray

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Children – 3 namely
a.    Bindumadhav Thackeray
b.Jaidev Thackeray
c.    Uddhav Thackeray
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Profession – Cartoonist, Politician

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He is an Indian politician, founder and chief of the Shiv Sena, a right-wing Hindu nationalist, and Marathi ethnocentric party.

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He began his professional career as a cartoonist with the English language daily the The Free Press Journal in Mumbai left in year 1960
His cartoons were also published in the Sunday edition of The Times of India.

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He started his own political weekly Marmik and started to fight for the rights of Marathi People and he campaigned against the growing influence of Gujaratis, Marwaris, and southern Indians in Mumbai

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Year 1966 - He formed his own political party Shiv Sena.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Thackeray built the party by forming temporary alliances with nearly all of Maharashtra's political parties.
He formed the Shiv Sena on 19 June 1966
He formed the Shiv Sena in 1966 as a "sons of the soil" movement, to fight for the rights of native Maharashtrians who, he believed, were under threat from other ethnic migrants.


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He and his political party opposed the celebrations of Valentine Day in a democratic India and because of fear of beating by Shiv Sena party members; many youth did not celebrate the Valentine Day.

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He admired Hitler.

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He supported LTTE.

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He was born to Keshav Sitaram Thackeray (also known as Prabodhankar Thackeray because of his articles in his fortnightly magazine named Prabodhan or 'Enlightenment')

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In 1989, the Sena's newspaper Saamna was launched.

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Shiv Sena Created fear among the Population in initial days and no one ever dared to go against them including ruling party and politicians. But later Shiv Sena started losing its power and today also citizens fear Shiv Sena but fear is less. His nephew Raj started his own political party Mansay.

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Shiv Sena allied itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

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The BJP-Shiv Sena combine won the 1995 Maharashtra State Assembly elections and came to power and Balasaheb controlled the government indirectly  he was called as remote control.
The government was formed with Manohar Joshi as chief minister and the BJP's Gopinath Munde as his deputy.

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On July 28, 1999, Bal 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.

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After the six-year voting ban on Bal Thackeray was lifted in 2005, he voted for the first time in the 2006 BMC elections.

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In 2002, Thackeray issued a call to form Hindu suicide squads to counter alleged Muslim violence: If such suicide squads are formed only then can, we take on perpetrators of mindless violence.
In reaction to Thackeray’s call, Maharashtra government registered a case against him for inciting enmity between different groups.

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He has 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.

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In the 1980s, he had stated that:
    '"They [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.

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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'

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On March 6, 2008, Bal Thackeray issued an editorial titled Ek Bihari, Sau Bimari (One Bihari, Hundred maladies) in Saamna, Shiv Sena's political mouthpiece, saying Biharis were 'an unwanted lot' in the Maharashtra

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he was quoted by Asia week 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 organizer 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.'

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In an interview with the Indian Express that was printed on January 29, 2007, Thackeray remarked,    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

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Shiv Sena meaning Army of Shiv, referring to Shivaji.
It is currently headed by Thackeray's son, Uddhav Thackeray.

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members of the Shiv Sena call themselves Shiv Sainiks, and carry out most of the party's grassroots work. In recent times, Thackeray does not concern himself with day-to-day activities of the party, which is run by his youngest son Uddhav Thackeray.

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The offices of Hindi and Marathi TV news channels IBN-7 and IBN-Lokmat in Mumbai and Pune were attacked and vandalized by Shiv Sena activists on 20 November 2009.

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BBC wrote about him as Bal Thackeray is often described as the uncrowned monarch of the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

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Year 1998 - Shiv Sena activists attacked movie theatres in Bombay over a controversial film with a lesbian theme, forcing it to be withdrawn.

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His remarks followed the illegal demolition of the 16th century Babri mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya by Hindu militants.
A judicial committee, which investigated the ensuing communal riots, accused Mr. Thackeray of sparking anti-Muslim violence in Bombay, which led to more than 1,000 deaths.

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The Washington Post had once described Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray as “the man who rules Bombay the way Al Capone ruled Chicago — through fear and intimidation”.

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In the 1960s and 1970s, the Sena viciously targeted South Indians, calling them derogatory names like Yanda Gundu and Lungiwaale. Under Thackeray's leadership, attacks on Udipi restaurants and theatres screening films by South Indian producers became regular features. Slogans like this were very common like 'lungi hatao pungi bajao'

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A Saamna editorial ahead of the demolition of the Babri Masjid asked readers, “How does your Shiv Sainik appear as he is marching towards Ayodhya? Like the roaring lion spreading terror, with the gait of an intoxicated elephant, like the assault of a rhino which reduces to powder a rocky mountain, like the manoeuvres of a leopard: our infinite blessings to these Hindu warriors who are marching towards Ayodhya”.

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In 2008, the Bombay high court sentenced senior Sena politician Madhukar Sarpotdar and two others to a year's rigorous imprisonment for their role in the riots.

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Year 1996 – King of dance and Pop star Michael Jackson toured to Mumbai for a concert and was welcome by Shiv Sena. Jackson visited the Sena chief and reportedly autographed the toilet he used during the visit. Bal Thackeray, whose own brother was a music director, presented the king of pop with a silver tabla and taanpura.

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In year 1995, Bal Thackeray lost his wife, Thackeray's wife Meena, 'Maasaheb' to Sena workers, died of a massive heart attack in September

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Year 1996 - Thackeray’s oldest son Bindumadhav died in a road accident on April 20, 1996. The fatal accident took place when the Tata Sumo that Binda Thackeray was travelling in crashed into a tempo near Waksai Phata on the Mumbai-Pune highway.

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Year 1993 - In January 1993, Thackeray said, “If I am arrested, then the whole of the country up to Jammu & Kashmir will rise up. I am prepared. If a holy war is to begin because of me, then so be it."

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Year 2000 –
The country watched Mumbai come to a standstill on July 25, 2000, when Thackeray was arrested for his inflammatory editorial in Saamna back in January 1993 during the Bombay riots when he openly called for attacks on Muslims.
Thackeray presented himself to the police and was produced in court. But the magistrate dismissed the case as time-barred. Thackeray walked free

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Year 2007 –
In 2007, Thackeray was arrested again, this time for a provocative speech he made during a Sena rally. He was let off on bail immediately.

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Thackeray urged his Sainiks to oppose creative ventures that leaned towards liberal thought. The list included Vijay Tendulkar’s plays Sakharam Binder and Ghashiram Kotwal which were blazing remarks on traditional Maharashtrian society, Govind Nihalani's Tamas, which was a comment on the communal tension in Indian society, and Deepa Mehta's Fire, which talked about lesbian relationships.

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The Sena also protested against Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali's concerts and celebrated Indian painter MF Husain's works. Sainiks also spilled out on the streets to protest against Indian youth celebrating Valentine's Day. Shops were vandalized, Valentine's Day merchandise burnt, and couples caught celebrating the day punished.

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Raj his nephew left the Shiv Sena left the party and he formed his own political party Mansay known as MNS.

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In November 2009, Bal Thackeray criticized the country's beloved cricketer Sachin Tendulkar for making a statement that Mumbai belonged to the whole of India. He said Sachin, please keep in mind that we praise you for your fours and sixes on the field, but if you use your tongue as a bat to hit boundaries against the Marathi manoos, we will never tolerate it. Please don’t lose on the ground of politics whatever you have earned on the cricket pitch.”

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Thackeray called for a public boycott of  Shah Rukh Khan’s film My Name is Khan and also branded him a traitor. Sena workers vandalized theatres and tore down posters of the film.

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Dussehra is a special day for every Shiv Sainik. It is the day on which Balasaheb addresses his followers at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai.

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Media has reported that Politically, the Shiv Sena was anti-Communist, and wrested control of major trade unions in Mumbai from the Communist Party of India and demanded protection money from mainly gujarati and marwari business leaders.
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Year -1996-
he complained of chest pain and was taken to Mahim’s PD Hinduja Hospital.
The late cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Nitu Mandke was rushed from Ahmedabad and conducted a bypass surgery on him, after an angiography detected a block.

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Year 2000s-
he was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition in which the airways in the lungs become so narrow that the flow of air is limited and the patient feels shortness of breath.

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Feb 2009-
He was admitted to Lilavati Hospital for 14 days after he complained of fever and exhaustion.

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June 2009-
He was admitted to the ICU with breathlessness and palpitations, his oxygen level dropping and BP shooting up.

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July 2009 -
He underwent an angioplasty in Lilavati Hospital, performed by cardiologist Dr. Samuel Matthew Kalarickel.
He skipped Dussehra rally.

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2010-
He addressed a function to mark the 50th year of Maharashtra’s formation.
He had gained nearly 17 kg in 10 months, and resumed his walks next to his home.

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March 18, 2010-
He underwent a minor laser eye surgery to clear his vision at JJ Hospital, Byculla.
JJ Group of Hospitals dean Dr. Lahane performed the seven-minute-long procedure.

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May 13, 2012-
Bal Thackeray was admitted to Lilavati Hospital after he complained of discomfort and was discharged two days later.
Tests showed an ailment in the pancreas.
Hyderabad-based specialist Nageshwar Reddy and his team were supposed to perform an endoscopy but the decision was deferred because of the poor condition of his lungs.

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July 24, 2012-
A day after Shiv Sena Executive president Uddhav Thackeray was discharged from Lilavati Hospital after a successful angioplasty for multiple blockage of arteries, Thackeray was admitted.
According to Matoshree and hospital sources, he had acute constipation accompanied with breathlessness and inflammation on the body

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17 November 2012 –
Shiv Sena chief Bal saheb Thackeray died on Saturday in Mumbai after prolonged illness.
He died at 3:33 pm on Saturday.


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Update Nov 23 , 2012 
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray got obituary references in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
Thackeray is amongst the few leaders ever to get obituary references without being a member of either house.

 

Suggested Reading –

Video Last Address Speech of Bal Thackeray to Shiv Sena Party WorkersDate October 24, 2012


Reality views by sm –

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

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Autobiography Biography Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray