Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday visited the first phase of the Balasaheb Thackeray memorial situated at the Mayor's Bungalow at Dadar saying that he does not want to get into the credit war on its development.
"All those who have not abandoned the thoughts of Balasaheb Thackeray can come here," he said.
The oblique reference was to former chief minister Eknath Shinde and others who, after staging rebellion in June 2022, joined the BJP-led MahaYuti government in Maharashtra.
Thackeray, who was accompanied by former minister Subhash Desai, said: "Balasaheb gave many things to many. For those whom Balasaheb could not give anything, they should at least take something from the memorial."
He said that the memorial is a national level one, "so whoever is the Prime Minister at the time of completion can come for inauguration".
"The first phase of the memorial of Balasaheb Thackeray has been completed. The work of the second phase has also started and discussions have been going on about it for the last few years. I thank the architect Abha Lamba and Tata Project. Because this work looks great now but it was difficult to do. An important coincidence is that the memorial of Veer Savarkar is also located next to this memorial. We have become emotionally attached to the building of the Mayor's Bungalow, said Thackeray.
He further said that the Mayor's Bungalow is a heritage building, and it was difficult to work without damaging the building, preserving its splendour.
"There was also a CRZ law. Abha Lamba proposed the idea of building an underground memorial. The sea level is higher than the ground level. This work was completed by accepting that challenge. It was an important task to build a building with precautions, so I thank Abha Lamba," he added.
Quite emotionally involved with the memorial development process, Thackeray claimed four walls and a mere statue did not make a memorial.
"I am a little curious about what will happen in phase two. It should continue. Our idea is to convey his thoughts through the memorial. The biography of the Shiv Sena chief is in the memorial. Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray never wrote an autobiography. When asked, he used to say that he was a man on the field and life was like an open book. The memorial of Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray should be such that the thoughts he gave to his country and state should also be given by his memorial," he remarked.
Uddhav hoped the memorial will be opened before the commencement of Balasaheb Thackeray's birth centenary on January 23, 2026.
"The Shiv Sena chief transformed Maharashtra during his lifetime. If you have old photos, speeches, some old news, articles, please bring them to us, as it will be a guiding material for the next generation," he said in his appeal to the people.
