Balasaheb Thackeray: Voice of Mumbai

Today is the birth anniversary of Late Shri Balasaheb Thackeray, an undisputed king of Mumbai. How was he different as a leader? How did he emerge as a leader? What was his leadership style? How did he handle people? How did he create the aura around his personality? Why did he change his agenda from Marathi welfare to Hindutva? This article is an effort to study Balasaheb as a unique leader of masses.

The Leader of Oppressed Majority Most of the leaders in India gained power by doing 'minority politics' but Balasaheb tried to give justice to the majority. He stood by the principle that, 'majority can't be suppressed for minority, locals should not be left behind in the wheel of globalisation.' Balasaheb was a great leader whose mission was to give justice to majority (Hindus) and local people, 'Marathi Manus' (Maharashtrians). He was very clear about his focus and vision and always stood by it.

Shiv Sena's ethos sprouted from the history of formation of Maharashtra state & the strong Marathi spirit behind the same. Balasaheb's father, Prabodhankar Thackeray started off from the agitation against the central government's proposal to separate Mumbai from rest of the Maharashtra. As soon as India got independence, the investors lobby dominated and the Congress ruling party remained far from the public out cry. There was strong demand for the formation of Maharashtra state based on language and inclusion of Mumbai, Goa, Belgaum, Karwar, Nipani etc. Then Prime Minister Pandit Nehru declared on the radio that Mumbai be made a Union territory.The denial of this demand by Nehru gave rise to 'Samyukta Maharashtra movement' which lasted for almost 5 years and became historical. In 1956, under the leadership of Keshavrao Jedhe, Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti was formed. Acharya Atre, Prabodhankar Thackeray, S.A. Dange, Senapati Bapat, and Shahir Amar Shaikh were active members of the samiti.

Marathi ethos was the inheritance Balasaheb had. It became DNA of Shiv Sena.

The movement became aggressive. Then Chief Minister of Bombay State, Morarji Desai replicated General Dyer. In the beginning of 1956, he tried to crush the movement by arresting all the leaders. During the period from 16th to 22nd January, 90 people died. Overall 106 people sacrificed their life, including the 16 who died in November. Around 10,000 satyagrahis were arrested. Finally, in the middle of 1959, President Dr. Rajendra Prasad decided to form a separate region for Marathi-speaking, Maharashtra State and Gujarati-speaking, Gujarat state. Mumbai became the capital city for the newly formed Maharashtra state. (http://memumbai.com/samyukt-maharashtra/) Thackerays became 'Marathi Voice' even before the formation of Maharashtra.

Balasaheb started his political career with the mission to restore the Marathi pride.

After formation of Maharashtra state the majority, Marathi population wasn't getting their fair share in the employment, trading & businesses. Communists were dominating Mumbai. Marathi population was just given blue collared jobs and did not get their share in the white collared jobs. Balasaheb's movement was more about getting justice for the majority rather than undermining the prospects of people with other linguistic backgrounds. Once this task was achieved to a fair extent, Balasaheb shifted his focus to Hindutva.

Year after year the ruling party was playing the minority card & using it to the political advantage rather than working for their genuine welfare.

Under the Congress regime, Hindu majority in Mumbai was being treated as secondary citizens. Balasaheb stood against that firmly. Over a period of time he became a strong Hindu icon. Shiv Sena became the custodian of Hindutva. Balasaheb smoothly got into national political scenario with adoption of the Hindutva mission. He supported NDA government under Atalji's leadership. The range of his remote control increased up to Delhi. He bargained with the central government for the interest of Maharashtra in general and Mumbai in particular.

People become powerful because of the chair, Balasaheb made his chair powerful.

Let me candidly admit that I have a strong affection for Balasaheb. Not because I am Marathi and Hindu but because of the good work which he and his party, Shiv-Sena, did for my city, Thane. Today Thane is the best suburb of Mumbai without a doubt. The credit goes to Balasaheb and his deputy Late Shri Anand Dighe. He had a special affection for my city. Shiv-Sena was born in Thane. Even today Thane is the strong fort of Shiv Sena because of the results delivered by them. The city is still being transformed under the able stewardship of Shri Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena. He is firmly supported by Thackeray family. (The credit also goes to the IAS officer Mr Jaiswal who is the Municipal Commissioner supported by the Hon. Chief Minister Devendra Phadanvis.)

The Leader of Masses Balasaheb always maintained deep relationships with masses. He never got lost among his captains. He never fought elections as a candidate or assumed office to wield the power. He always used his remote control for the benefit of masses.

Balasaheb never allowed money to dominate public interest & the common man.

He ensured that he wouldn't be always encircled by sycophants. He ensured access to his party cadre and to common man, at all time. Everybody in politics needs money. He treated money as a resource and not as objective. He did not leave single opportunity to demonstrate the power of people to the rulers in Delhi. In the case of other parties, the party workers have responsibility to ensure the crowd for the public meetings but hundreds and thousands of people thronged his public meetings. They wanted to listen to him carefully. He was the true leader of masses. People loved him.

Balasaheb loved Mumbai and Mumbai loved Balasaheb.

Focus For Mumbai, he was the icon like the Gateway of India and Rajabhai tower. Balasaheb always maintained focus on his principles, geography and objectives. He never diluted his cause. He clearly defined his party as a regional party committed to the welfare of Maharashtra. He never tried to gain a pound of flesh in the central government. He was focused on welfare of Mumbai, Thane and the Kokan belt. In the later stage of his political career he expanded his focus but only within the boundaries of Maharashtra state. He never allowed to loosen his grip over Mumbai and over Maharashtrians.

Organiser Balasaheb understood the importance of the organisation very early. He developed a network of branches of Shiv-Sena, his party, in every nook & corner of Mumbai. He created local leaders, empowered them and formed a strong organisational structure. He invested a lot of time, during the early phase of his political career, in developing the structure and local leaders. Thereafter, he drew power out of his deep-rooted organisation and strong, committed local leaders. He changed lives of many people. He converted many goons to civilised leaders. I respect Balasaheb for this ability of organisation and leadership development.

Discipline & Delegation Balasaheb never went to any B-school but learnt his management lessons well. He could achieve golden mean of discipline and delegation. His leaders knew which activities are to be done on their own and which activities are to be done only after getting the command from Balasaheb. He laid down policy for taking routine decisions.

Coalitions and alignments Balasaheb was a very practical leader. He knew which adjustments were a must to run coalitions and alliances. He always took care of his alliance partners very well & adjusted few things to accommodate their interests.

He was a loyal and reliable political partner, but for a couple of presidential elections. He had to support Pratibhatai Patil because of her Marathi roots during her presidential election. He supported Pranav Mukharjee to honour the word given to his old time friend but arch political rival, Sharad Pawar. He never tried to en-cash his political loyalty & never tried to gain any personal benefit by supporting the presidential candidates against the wishes of the political alley, BJP. Balasaheb was very consistent in whatever he did. This consistency developed reliability.

PR and Networking Skills He ensured personal chemistry with most of the national leaders, state leaders, businessmen, artists, cricketers, Bollywood celebrities in spite of the political differences.

His home, 'Matoshri', had more high profile visitors than the governor's house, even when his party was in opposition. People like Rajanikant, Michael Jackson, Javed Miadad hardly went to visit anybody in their house but they visited Balasaheb at Matoshri. Balasaheb never aspired to move into the palatial government houses, he made powerful people visit his home. His residence was on the bucket-list of many global leaders, businessman & also top celebrities. He welcomed them with opened arms & hosted parties for them. He was a very good host and enjoyed seeping wine or beer with his visitors and friends along with the cigar. He never pretended to be an 'ideal politician'. He openly admitted his love for cigar and wine. He was different than hypocrite Indian politicians who maintained a secret personal life. His life was an open book. His personal life was also public.

Man of Words Balasaheb always spoke what he meant. He never backtracked on his words or promises. He was very consistent & reliable. He would take some time to understand the issue from different dimensions and make-up his mind. Once decided he wouldn't go back. This was very rare quality for an Indian politician.

A Friend in need Balasaheb always supported people when they were in terrible crisis. He did it even at the cost of his reputation & public image.

He helped celebrities like Amitabh Bachan, Sanjay Dutt in their life crisis. In fact Mr Sunil Dutt was his arch political rival but Balasaheb helped his son, Sanjay Dutt, using his clout in Delhi. He also helped a senior Congress leader to retain his official residence in Delhi, after the defeat in the general elections. Balasaheb used his power as a coalition partner & sought help from Atalji for the Congress leader. He didn't field a candidate against Supriya, Sharad Pawar's daughter, when she contested her first election as the member of Parliament. Balasaheb was like 'Bholenath' who would bless his devotees irrespective of their character, position, political affiliation etc. He helped anybody & everybody who went to his home seeking his support.

Strong Nationalist Balasaheb played politics for Marathi people & for Hindus but he was a strong nationalist. He kept national interest before anything else. Though he supported Hindutva he never hated minorities. Many of the minorities people were his personal friends & he helped them too. He had a personality of an average Indian, in terms of appearance and hence people could relate to him. He was accessible, loved & respected. But people always knew him as a tiger even if he had a calm and smiling face. Today on his birth anniversary I salute his leadership qualities & remember his contribution to the cause of Mumbai & Maharashtra. Jai Hind. Jai Maharashtra.

About the Author: Prof Dr Ajit Patil is awarded 'Top Voice on LinkedIn - 2017'. He is a Management Writer; Marketing, Business Development & Retailing Consultant. He conducts Management Development Programmes; trains & coaches Sales & Marketing teams. He has been teaching MBA students in India & overseas for over 18 years. He can be reached at ajitpatilmumbai@yahoo.co.in

Prof Dr Ajit Patil in Beijing with his Chinese friend, Miss Yuran Lee and her grandparents, May 2018.