1

“Most people think he was evil, an extremist, but there were shades to his character. He knew he was saying the wrong things,
but it suited the politics of the day,” Anandan said.

The Sena, which held its first rally in 1966, went from nurturing the resentment of the local Marathi population, to slamming
different groups, as the contexts changed. “Thackeray was very sure Hindutva was the way to go, he got there even before the
BJP did,” said Anandan.

“In his heart he was whatever suited him at the time,” Sanghvi said.

Thackeray ranted against Pakistan, but embraced Javed Miandad. He started out to create a cultural organisation, and wound up
nurturing a political party. He attacked Valentine’s Day and in the same breath, proudly showed visitors the bathroom pop star
Michael Jackson had used in his home.

Journalist and panelist Kumar Ketkar, said, “He didn’t have any specific ideology. He wanted to be free from political dogma,
because whatever he said was ideology.”

Bharatkumar Raut, journalist and Sena MP, and the fourth panellist, said, “He was not a man of isms. His only ism was Bal
Thackerayism.”

“This book has succeeded in making him into a confused, loveable rogue,” said writer Anil Dharker. But the “rogue”, while
championing violence, didn’t create a party with a clear ideological vision, the panel agreed.

Book Review - Hindu Hriday Samrat: Looking a tiger in the eye

DC | KUMAR KETKAR
PublishedAug 4, 2014, 9:49 am IST
UpdatedMar 31, 2019, 2:46 pm IST
This book is not a traditional biography of the legendary anti-hero, but a searchlight on his life
and times

Sujata Anandan’s journey through the last nearly 50 years of Mumbai was for me a kind personal
memoir. She has directly covered the 30-year period of these five decades as an active journalist,
reflected on the phenomenon called “Hindu Hriday Samrat” Balasaheb Thackeray, analysed the
impact of the Shiv Sena and interpreted the roller-coaster politics of Maharashtra.
senior journalist Sujata Anandan
 2

The recent episode in Delhi, Shiv Sena MPs force-feeding a Muslim employee on his Ramzan
fasting day in the Maharashtra Sadan, and not apologising later is typical of their style. In this
case, they were newly elected Shiv Sena members of Parliament. Their political status had seen
elevation, but their style had remained exactly the same, in the 49th year of Shiv Sena’s
existence. The idea of forming an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party had little to do with
the ideology of “Hindutva”. On its own, Shiv Sena was not able to win enough seats to make a
claim to power and same was true of the BJP (and Jan Sangh in the past). The strategy has paid
dividends. In 1995, the saffron alliance came to power. And this year they are almost sure to take
over the reins of the state, riding on anti-incumbency and the so-called Modi wave. Sujata’s book
project could not have been better timed. It was a difficult project to undertake. It involved risk
to personal and professional life. It was also a journalistic challenge, because there is no
comparable character in the political firmament of India after Independence.
The book, Hindu Hriday Samrat: How the Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever, is the story of
Bal Thackeray’s “success”, howsoever limited it may be, as well as his failure, howsoever
dazzling it may be. It is a political biography of a man who roared as a tiger and also
psychoanalysis of a leader who openly admired Hitler, but could not even create a strong
regional party, like the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam or Telugu Desam or Akali Dal. To come to
power, he had to form an alliance with the BJP, and to spread the tentacles of the Sena he had to
surreptitiously take the support of the Congress.
That was a real tightrope walk. So he kept on changing his “enemies”. At the time of the birth of
the organisation his target was “Madrasis”. He used to club all South Indians as “Madrasis” and
for him they were all laughable “yundugundus”. He would ridicule their language and culture,
their dress “lungis” and attack the Udupi restaurants. He was convinced that these people were
stealing the jobs of the Marathi people.
His other staunch enemies were the “Communists”. They were traitors and were agents either of
Russia or China. Within just first two years, he started breaking the Communist unions in the city
of Mumbai. There is enough evidence to show that the Sena was financed, supported and
politically backed by the capitalists and the ruling party. His diatribe and electoral campaign
against the veteran leader V.K. Krishna Menon (former foreign minister in Jawaharlal Nehru’s
Cabinet) was not only because he was a “Madrasi” (actually he was a Keralite, not Tamil but
Malayali), but also because he was regarded as a “Communist” in the Congress. Of course, when
the Shiv Sena campaigned against him in the 1967 Lok Sabha elections, he contested as an
independent candidate, against the Congress. That was because of the skullduggery in the
Congress Party, where the Right had taken charge and isolated Menon. The “villain” in the game
was S.K. Patil, himself a senior Congress leader and minister in the Nehru Cabinet.
It is very complicated politics, in the country and also in Maharashtra, but Sujata Anandan
relishes and brilliantly (also playfully sometimes) interprets the conflicting trends, which led to
the rise of Bal Thackeray and his Shiv Sena. He became Balasaheb much later, and Hindu
Hriday Samrat even later than that. In fact, he was not enamoured of the Sangh Parivar, as stated
above, and used to make fun of the “chaddiwalas” and their conservative, outdated ideas. That
was the legacy of his father, Prabodhankar (real name Keshav). Bal Thackeray’s father was a
leader in his own right of the anti-Brahmin movement. He was an iconoclast, too. In fact, he
detested religion, temples, rituals, superstitions, Brahminical practices and reactionary Hinduism.
It is paradoxical, therefore, that his son would become “Hindu Hriday Samrat”.
 3

Sujata Anandan has been able to connect many contradictory trends, integrate parallel forces,
weave a pattern, which could not have been possible without identifying a unifying theme in a
complex political process. She not only explores the personality and character of Balasaheb, but
also the Marathi Mumbaikar’s angst and anxieties. In fact, it was that state of mind that created
Shiv Sena. Notwithstanding the rowdyism and street vandalism, it has always been a fact that the
Shiv Sainik was a highly motivated activist and totally devoted to the supremo.
Balasaheb’s calls for “bandh”, for boycotting Pakistani cricket teams, for openly challenging
court orders restricting use of loudspeakers after 10 pm, for breaking normal law and order
instructions of the police were implemented by the loyal, angry, committed but not disciplined
cadre. For many years it was not possible even to make a harmless joke about his leadership or
the Sena. But he carried on with his abusive and below-the-belt attacks on all those who were
opposed to him or his Sena or his policies. He took full liberty to ridicule any national or local
leaders through his cartoons, but any other publication which dared to draw his caricature was
physically attacked. Sujata has been personally at the receiving end of this mindless ruckus.
Despite such fear psychosis that was deliberately and systematically created and maintained,
Sujata continued to write what she thought was right. Yet she also managed with journalistic
daring to meet and interview Balasaheb in a not very friendly atmosphere. This book is not a
traditional biography of the legendary anti-hero, but a searchlight on his life and times.

Kumar Ketkar is a senior journalist and chief editor of Dainik Divya Marathi

_________________________________
Journalism, or at least news reporting, is concerned more with events than the processes that
shape them. The 'whys' and 'hows', which form part of the 'five Ws and one H' of journalism, are
overshadowed by the 'what'. So, when hard-bitten journalists write on socio-political phenomena,
it is a welcome change. Apart from going behind the scenes to dissect processes that shape
events, these writings are important social documents.
Sujata Anandan's Hindu Hriday Samrat: How the Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever is the
latest book on the party and its controversial chief. The writer is a senior journalist who has
covered the Sena since its salad days. With a subject as colourful as the late Bal Thackeray, the
book does have its gems.
Anandan dissects Thackeray by seeing through his personality cult and bares the contrasting
styles of Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and his more rooted father. She reproduces behind-
the-scenes anecdotes on the rift between the Sena's chief's nephew Raj, who formed the MNS
after his estrangement, and senior Sena leaders.The narrative of a Marathi manoos achieving
upward mobility through education in English while his Sainik friends stagnated, vindicates
criticism that the Sena did little to take Maharashtrian youth beyond lumpenisation and into
institution building and entrepreneurship, barring the ubiquitous vada pav stalls that dot Mumbai.
The Sena did little to project Maharashtra's rich culture and history, instead giving the state and
its people a xenophobic image at odds with reality. Its Mumbai fixation inhibited its spread in
rural Maharashtra, and Anandan notes that lack of intellectual critical mass ensured that it took
30 years for the Sena to come to power in Maharashtra, unlike other regional forces. That the
 4

numbers of Maharashtrians in urbs prima in Indis (India's premier city) declined under its watch
is indicative of the Sena not staying true to its stated commitment.
Anandan notes how she received an email from a north Indian who claimed she was beginning to
hate all Maharashtrians due to the shenanigans of Raj and his MNS. This shows how the antics
of these parties have been allowed to overshadow Maharashtra's contribution to the Indian
renaissance like Mahatma Jotiba and Savitribai Phule (started first school for girls) and, above
all, the man after whom the Sena is named – secular warrior-king Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
However, there are some jarring points.

The book has little on Bal Thackeray's firebrand social reformer and author father 'Prabodhankar'
Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, who played a pivotal role in Sena's formation. The book claims that
Bal Thackeray was urged by his father to "stand firm" against the Emergency, but "capitulated
far too quickly". This is surprising as Prabodhankar passed away in 1973 and the Emergency was
declared two years later, in 1975!
The Sena's seeds may have been sown in 1922 (before Bal Thackeray's birth) when
Prabodhankar (later a leading light of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement), began a campaign
seeking preference for Maharashtrians in jobs because a Maharashtrian engineer who sought
employment in the then Madras province was rejected on grounds that locals were preferred!
Turning things on their head, south Indians were to become targets of the Sena's ire in Mumbai
decades later!
Contrary to the book's claims, Thackeray's former bodyguard Mohan Rawle, elected in 1991,
was not the Sena's first MP. Its first candidates to win Lok Sabha seats were Moreshwar Save
(Aurangabad), Ashok Deshmukh (Parbhani), Wamanrao Mahadik and journalist Vidyadhar
Gokhale (Mumbai) in 1989. Also, the Congress Lok Sabha nominee against VK Krishna Menon
was not KD Barve but former ICS officer SG Barve.
The Sena built on anger in smaller Dalit communities at the Dalit-Ambedkarite movement being
appropriated by Buddhist Dalits and made inroads into them. It also co-opted smaller, politically
neglected communities, which resented the dominance of the Maratha- Kunbi caste cluster in the
Congress. Today, the Shiv Sena has one of the widest social bases in Maharashtra.
Some readers may not agree with the author's poor assessment of Thackeray's cartooning
abilities. Some of Thackeray's cartoons may belie the claim. For instance, the one on the
Watergate scam where Nixon is shown to be cutting his nose off with scissors. With the
legendary David Low as his influence, Thackeray's works in his cartoon weekly Marmik were
the critical force for the Sena's birth in 1966.
Above all, the book does not answer a crucial question: why do locals feel left out in the
development process leading to the emergence of nativist parties like Shiv Sena, AGP, MNS and
Kannada Raksha Vedike? Going beyond usual postulation of demographic changes leading to a
counter-reaction, are these outfits born at the collision of the old order with the new, as inevitable
by-products of the lopsided development process, unequal access to resources and skewed power
structures?
 5

In several ways, the Sena was a child of the times. Similar demographic assertions and demands
for preferential treatment were seen in states like West Bengal, Assam and Andhra Pradesh; a
sub-national movement also shaped up in Tamil Nadu in the troubled decades around the Shiv
Sena's formation.
In her seminal work, Ethnicity and Equality: The Shiv Sena Party and Preferential Politics in
Bombay, Mary Fainsod Katzenstein, writing with the keen eye yet detached attitude of an
outsider, notes that "At the root of nativism is a perceived inequality of situations."
Unlike Katzenstein – who empirically lists out factors like economic competition from
"outsiders", creation of Maharashtra in 1960 enhancing the political status of Maharashtrians in
Mumbai, rising literacy, an emerging middle-class and its competition with south Indians for
office jobs as among reasons for the Sena's emergence – this book fails to put forth compelling
reasons for the birth of the party. Moreover, are youth becoming a natural catchment for such
forces because of the lack of social movements in an end-of-ideology era in
Maharashtra?Despite some plus points, the book suffers from the lack of bibliography and omits
mentioning how Thackeray ruthlessly stifled any challenge to his authority in the party. To sum
it up, lives of demagogues like Thackeray are constant reminders of Primo Levi's warnings about
charismatic leaders.
___________________________________
By Suraj Kumar Thube
21 March, 2016 Countercurrents.org
There is normally a sense that a biography of a towering personality, especially after his or her
death, suddenly generates some sort of excitement among a section of readers . It happens to gain
much traction if it is to be a politician for some reason. Sujata Anandan's captivating new book
titled " Hindu Hriday Samrat" on the enigma that was Balasaheb Thackeray, falls in that list.
With a wealth of experience of tracking the rise and fall of the Shiv Sena over the years, the
writer does a fine job of reproducing certain key incidents and events of Bal Thackeray's life and
the overall impact it had on shaping "Mumbai's"
identity in general.
This is not one of those cumbersome biographies
which strictly adhere to a chronology driven narrative
but keeps going back and forth with commendable
ease that makes it an intriguing read. More than
stuffing the book with huge but mundane information,
it focuses on few events that changed Mumbai forever,
applying the method of a horizontal expansion of
academic analysis instead of a vertical one. It begins
with the scarcely dwelled upon issue of the factors that
led to the Shiv Sena's formation, drawing much of
what Madhav Deshpande, one of the main architects
of the party, had to say about the same. The chaotic
and unplanned nature of transformation of Shiv Sena-
the movement to Shiv Sena - the party is what gets
revealed in the initial chapters. This follows with a few
 6

interesting topics like the one which talks about the inheritance of the name "Thackeray" by Bal
Thackeray's father from the love and admiration he had for the famous Indian born British
novelist William Makepeace Thackeray.
The common Marathi surname "Thakree" was too mainstream and there had to be something that
would distinguish "us" from "them". Other incidents like his perpetual hatred of the Communists,
for the firm hold they had on Bombay mills and of the South Indians, for their disproportionate
numbers in the higher echelons of the society, are written in a brief, lucid and compact manner. (
How Thackeray was always the second best to his contemporary R.K. Laxman, before he joined
'Marmik', is a thoroughly interesting read.) This sets the ball rolling for the rest of the book
which describes him as a fiery orator who being a stubborn, head strong, foul mouthed
demagogic leader encapsulated the Maratha minds for decades. If this was how Thackeray was
portrayed by the masses, the inner voice of Madhav Deshpande describes him as no more than a
pussy-cat who was deeply afraid of two things - facing the judiciary and getting killed for his
provocative speeches.
The writer persists with a few points at length, that of Thackeray being a stooge of the Congress,
as a mere pawn to obliterate the Communists and thereby consolidate the votes of the Maratha
community, mostly those that had migrated from eastern Maharashtra to Bombay in search of
jobs. The most humiliating period for Thackeray was when his party was called as " Vasant
Sena" by his rivals, for having close links with Congress stalwarts like Vasantdada Patil and
Vasantrao Naik. The schism between MPCC ( Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee) and
the BRCC ( Bombay Regional Congress Committee) was the one that paved the way for the rise
and consolidation of this "son of the soils" movement. The writer unequivocally claims that had
there not been the Congress with its clandestine political interests, the chances of Shiv Sena
remaining a recognisable political threat in the state would have become bleak.
The second point that gets a lion's share in the book is the four and a half year period that the
Shiv Sena was in power, along with the BJP, since 1995. Till this time, Bal Thackeray's
"Maratha agenda" has mellowed down, only to be overtaken by a broader ideology of Hindutva.
The author neatly traces this shift to the early 1980's which continued to be its main ideological
stand. His overt support to the Babri Masjid demolition and his complicit role in the Bombay
riots ( as brought out by the Srikrishna Commission report that is now gathering dust) are
testimony to this subtle yet pronounced change. The politics of "name changing" of Bombay to
Mumbai and also the fiasco of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar & Osmanabad to Dharashiv
dominated the early period of that government. Ironically, this period of assertion of the party in
general and Bal Thackeray in particular, saw a perceptible decline in his popularity as few long
estranged members made their exit from the party. Chaggan Bhujbal, the Dalit face of the party
was the first one to leave followed up by prominent leaders like Narayan Rane and his own
nephew, the self proclaimed political heir of the original tiger, Raj Thackeray. Things were never
to be the same again for the Sena as the tiger was seemingly losing his personal battle against
health issues.
It can perhaps be said that the author writes a premature epitaph for the party, especially when
one looks at its current resurgence that has led it to be a prominent ally in the present
government. Another aspect that could be critiqued is the repetitiveness about certain events and
incidents, given the fact that most of them were articles written for certain newspapers and
magazines at some point of time. However, apart from these minor aspects,
 7

the book is commendable in the way it makes it reader friendly with minimum jargon and more
unknown or less talked about facts about the man who continues to remain an enigma even
today. As Vijay Tendulkar puts it in a certain context that he had no permanent friends and no
permanent enemies. To understand someone who used to abhor politics and politicians in his
early days to the one who became known by a very peculiar style of politics, Sujata Anandan's
book meticulously provides those rare insights of the life and times of Bal Thackeray.
Suraj Kumar Thube is currently pursuing his MA in Political Science from Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi. He is interested in Indian politics and Indian political thought. He spends most of his
time reading books, playing football and listening to Hindustani classical music.
__________________________________________
The maverick Mumbaikar
Would Narendra Modi’s march to 7, Race Course Road have been as smooth if Bal
Thackeray was still around? Could Thackeray have stopped the aggressive Modi juggernaut that
began rolling across the country after September?
Modi treated Thackeray’s party, the Shiv Sena, with characteristic disdain each time the issue of
the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) relationship with it came to the fore. Thackeray never had a
long conversation with Modi, but their chemistry, in any case, would probably not have matched.
Modi is focused on his ambition, he has no time for a relaxed chat, while Thackeray enjoyed his
drink (warm beer or red wine), particularly with journalists. He was a witty conversationist and
loved mimickry and jokes, especially the below-the-belt variety. He was quick to spot the funnier
aspects of people, their absurd contradictions and irrational habits. That was the cartoonist in
him.
Jawaharlal Nehru’s balding scalp or Indira Gandhi’s nose or V.K. Krishna Menon’s wild curly
hair used to fascinate him. He enjoyed making fun of the famous and the powerful in his
caricatures. His barbs against politicians in speeches were more brutal. Thundering crowds
would be enthralled by his charisma. Modi, too, has hypnotic skills, but the relaxed, unassuming
and humorous style of Thackeray was in a different league altogether.
Sujata Anandan, currently political editor at the Mumbai bureau of the Hindustan Times, has
followed this maverick personality for almost 30 years and analysed, interpreted and inquired
into this character who loomed over Mumbai for over four decades. Not an easy task, since it
involved facing violent mobs, verbal abuse, and occasional threats.
Despite the pleasant public demeanour, Thackeray was a “don" of sorts. Some think the term
“fascist" is too strong to describe him, but the kind of mayhem Mumbai saw under him, the fear
psychosis people experienced, the targeting of Muslims, south Indian and north Indian people
only go on to show that the DNA of the Shiv Sena is quintessentially fascist, more in its style
than in its ideology.
Anandan has explored Thackeray’s style as well as substance (or the absence of it). Her book,
Hindu Hriday Samrat: How The Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever, is not a conventional
biography of the self-styled “Hindu Hriday Samrat", but a sociocultural and political account of
Mumbai (with references to Maharashtra).
 8

Thackeray was more a manifestation of the Marathi Mumbaikar’s angst than a political person.
His father, Prabodhankar (real name Keshav and later editor of the weekly, Prabodhan), was a
leader of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, which had its roots in Marathi identity and
history.
Chhatrapati Shivaji, the founder of the first Marathi kingdom in the 17th century, continues to be
the icon of the Marathi people. Hence, it is in his name that the Shiv Sena was to be organized.
The idea was originally conceived by Thackeray’s father, there was no plan to create a political
party. At the very first Shiv Sena rally, Thackeray had declared that his organization would work
militantly to preserve and promote Marathi pride, language, culture and the legacy of Shivaji, but
would never join politics.
How that resolve disappeared within one year is an interesting story, narrated by Anandan in all
its anecdotal detail. In hindsight, one can say the Shiv Sena became a political party by accident.
The organization that was born on the street to fight for Marathi rights had identified south
Indians as villains—“lungiwalas", as they were called—for supposedly blocking jobs that should
have gone to Marathi youth.
Hindu Hriday Samrat—How The Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever: HarperCollins India, 278
pages, Rs.499
The Sena could get social acceptability because Thackeray managed to attract the Marathi
professional class, which was beginning to feel marginalized in the city. It was because of this
class, which either genuinely feared getting sidelined in the growing metropolis, or because of
the angst that had become a collective Marathi mindset, that the Sena could root itself in society.
That is why, the Shiv Sena in Mumbai is qualitatively different from other parts of the state.
The subtitle of the book, How The Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever, is fitting. From the
megalomania of the Sena supremo to the intellectual bankruptcy of the leadership, from
hyperactive activists to ardent do-gooders, from trade-union organizations to student unions,
from the builder lobby to Bollywood, the Sena’s presence was near universal. That foundation
cracked first in the early 1990s, when Chhagan Bhujbal, a senior leader, revolted.
In the last seven-eight years, the Sena has faced many jolts. The revolt of Narayan Rane, the
Sena chief minister in 1999 and a popular rabble-rouser, was a major shock to Uddhav
Thackeray, heir apparent to Balasaheb. Soon after, Uddhav’s cousin, Raj, a charismatic young
leader from the Thackeray dynasty, also revolted.
These revolts showed that Balasaheb’s appeal was on the decline, though he was healthy and
active at the time. Yet, both Rane and Raj seemed to have failed in further splitting the Sena, and
did not make any significant mark on the politics of Mumbai or Maharashtra.
The BJP now seems to consider the Sena weak, Uddhav a lacklustre leader, and the cadre
demoralized. The former appears to have also decided that the stunning victory of the saffron
front in the 2014 Lok Sabha election was entirely due to the Modi wave.
In 2009, when the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance won in Maharashtra, the BJP
and the Sena were so crestfallen that they did not know how to reorganize. They also feared that
the defeat could strengthen Rane and Raj. But there was another Hindu Hriday Samrat emerging
on the horizon around this time, from the neighbouring state of Gujarat. Bal Thackeray did not
endorse the rise of this rival to that claim. In fact, to puncture Modi’s balloon, he suggested that
the ideal prime ministerial candidate was Sushma Swaraj.
The hard-core loyalists of Balasaheb and the Sena are still privately hostile to the Modi-led BJP.
Some Sena leaders feel they should go it alone in the assembly election, or they could lose the
claim for the post of chief minister to the BJP. The BJP, too, seems to think that it should break
 9

the alliance and form a government of its own, as in New Delhi. But the marriage will survive,
because neither is yet confident of winning full victory without the support of the other.
If Anandan’s “anti-hero" was alive and kicking today, would he have succumbed to the wicked
charm of Modi? After all, Balasaheb was the product of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement,
which was stridently opposed by Gujaratis. For the proud “Marathi manoos" in Mumbai, the
“villain" was then another Gujarati leader, Morarji Desai.(Hindustan Times is published by HT
Media Ltd, which also publishes Mint.)
The writer is an editor and political commentator based in Mumbai.

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