Bal Keshav Thackeray was born on 23rd January 1926 in Pune, Maharashtra. His followers affectioately called him ‘Hindu Hruday Samrat’. Bal Thackeray, son of social activist Keshav Thakeray, was highly influenced by his father's thoughts on Maharashtra becoming a complete Marathi speaking state with Mumbai as its capital. He began his career as a cartoonist with 'The Free Press Journal' in Mumbai. In 1960, he formed his own political weekly 'Marmik'. Thackeray, a pro-marathi, voiced his thoughts against the growing influence of non-Marathis in Mumbai, through Marmik. He gradually rose to popularity and founded "Shiv Sena" in 1966. BalaSaheb Thackeray, Hindu Hriday Samrat (emperor of the Hindu hearts), the Tiger, are the titles given to Bal Thackeray by his admirers and supporters. He was also the founder and editor of Marathi-language newspaper Saamana, launched on January 23 1988. Balasaheb never hesitated in speaking his mind publicly. He played an important role in both regional as well as national politics. Here we list some of his lesser known political opinions.
Shiv Sena is now sharing power in Maharashtra with congress and NCP. However, Balasaheb had completely different views about NCP leader Sharad Pawar. Answering a question on alliance with Sharad Pawar, Bala Saheb once said that he would not go along with a scoundrel. He also added, "The man responsible for toppling the (BJP's) Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, how can we afford to shake hands with him? I will never at least. I will never," Thackeray said in an interview to NDTV.
On Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Thackeray opined that it would be better to hand-back our country to the Britishers than being governed by Sonia Gandhi. He said, “'I would prefer handing back power to the British, who have at least experience of ruling the country for 150 years”. Thackeray also compared Congress to Cancer, he said, “Overthrow the Congress governments in the state and at the Centre, which are a ‘cancer’.”
Known for his firm stance on Hindutva, Balasaheb Thackeray had said, “It is my dream that we would create a Hindustan of the Hindus. Maharashtrians or Punjabis alone cannot fight against Islam. That is why, I appeal to all Hindus to break the linguistic wall around them and come together so that we can bring Islam in this country down to its knees.”
Thackeray once questioned the ability of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to become Prime Minister of India. He said, "Who is this Rahul Gandhi? What is there in him? Tomorrow, any school kid will rise and ask to be made the Prime Minister."
However, Balasaheb had relatively different views on Indira Gandhi, India's only female prime minister. He praised Indira Gandhi for liberation of Bangladesh and called her a "woman who had guts and knew how to rule". He also called her one of the best prime ministers as far as taking decisions was concerned. "No other Prime Minister used to take such firm decisions like she had done,"he also added.
Interestingly, Balasaheb had a soft corner for Hitler. He had once said, “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.”
Narayan Rane, Union Minister for micro, small and medium enterprises, was once a member of Shiv Sena. Balasaheb made him chief minister in 1999. Rane was expelled by Shiv Sena in 2005. After Rane was ousted from the party, he was once ridiculed by Bal Thackeray in a public gathering. Thackeray took a jibe at Rane for dressing in western while not even being able to speak English.
The credit for changing the name of Maharashtra capital from Bombay to Mumbai goes to Balasaheb Thackeray. It was done in 1995 by the first Shiv Sena government in the state that was formed in alliance with the BJP.
