Bal Thackrey

HATS OFF FOR OUR MESSIAH

Flow of tears couldn’t be resisted to hear Saheb’s sad demise. Information in my hands was suggesting little development in his health. Media reports, yesterday smoothed my tension. I was relaxed to know that he is recovering. But no..he slept for ever! The greatest Hindu warrior breathed his last today!! It is unbelievable on my part that the Great Thakeray is no more!!! Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray ( 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012) was an Indian politician, founder and chief of the Shiv Sena, a right-wing Hindu nationalist, and Marathi ethnocentric party active mainly in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. We were using to call him the Hindu Hriday Samraat (Emperor of Hindu Hearts).Thackeray began his professional career as a cartoonist with the English daily, the The Free Press Journal in Mumbai, but left it in 1960 to form his own political weekly Marmik. His political philosophy was largely shaped by his father Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, a leading figure in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement (United Maharashtra movement), which advocated the creation of a separate linguistic state of Maharashtra. Thackeray formed the Shiv Sena party to advocate more strongly the place of Maharashtrians in Mumbai’s political and professional landscape. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Thackeray was also the founder of the Marathi-language newspaper Saamana and the Hindi-language newspaper Dopahar ka saamana. He attracted numerous controversies.He was born to Keshav Sitaram Thackeray (also known as ‘Prabodhankar’ Thackeray because of his articles in his fortnightly magazine named Prabodhan or ‘Enlightenment’) in a Marathi Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu family. Keshav Thackeray was a progressive social activist and writer who was against caste biases and played a key role in the Samyukta Maharashtra Chalwal (literally, United Maharashtra Movement) in the 1950s to form the Marathi-speaking state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as its capital.He formed the Shiv Sena on 19 June 1966 with the intent of fighting for the rights of the natives of the state of Maharashtra (called Maharashtrians). The early objective of the Shiv Sena was to ensure job security for Maharashtrians. Politically, the Sena was anti-communist and wrested control of trade unions in Mumbai from the Communist Party of India. It later allied itself with our party i.e. the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the common issue of Nationalism which both parties believed in. The BJP-Shiv Sena combine won the 1995 Maharashtra State Assembly elections and came to power. Bal Thackeray lost his wife Meena to a heart attack in September 1996, and his eldest son Bindumadhav (Binda) to a road accident on 20 April 1996.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. After the six-year voting ban on Bal Thackeray was lifted in 2005, he voted for the first time in the 2006 BMC elections. Nonetheless, Thackeray’s Shiv Sena has helped the Marathi manoos (Maharashtrian laymen) in Mumbai and also fought for the rights of Hindu people,Thackeray was a staunch Hindu and believed that Hindus must be organised to struggle against those who oppose their identity and religion, especially in the public sector. Thackeray was admitted to Lilavati hospital’s intensive care unit in Mumbai on 25 July 2012 after he complained of breathlessness. As per reports on 14 November, he stopped eating and was on continuous oxygen. In Vakola, Shivaji Nagar, Chembur, Navi Mumbai, Andheri, Parel, Dadar and Matunga, and other parts of Mumbai, business establishments and  shops voluntary closed.Thackeray died on 17 November 2012 at “Matoshree”, his Mumbai residence, following cardio-respiratory arrest. His mortal remains are kept in Shivaji Park for public homage and cremation is to be performed on Sunday. Honourable Narendra Modiji is reaching Mumbai to pay homage to this brave sepoy of Sanatan Dharma. I fail to get words of condolence. May Lord Jagannath pave the path for his immortal soul towards emancipation. Jay Hind; Vande Mataram.