Little known facts about Balasaheb Thackeray
Bal Thackeray (also known as Balasaheb Thackeray) is one of the most enigmatic personalities in Indian history. The founder of the ‘feared’ Shiv Sena party initially started working as a cartoonist with English newspaper before turning towards politics. And soon enough, he began to be known as Hindu Hruday Samrat (Emperor of the Hindu hearts).
Thackeray died on 17th November, 2012, as a consequence of a cardiac arrest. The whole of Mumbai came to a virtual halt immediately as the news broke out. The entire state of Maharashtra was put on high alert. 20,000 Mumbai police officers, 15 units of the State Reserve Police Force and three contingents of the Rapid Action Force were deployed to keep the calm in the city of Mumbai.
Today, on the day of his death anniversary, get to know the late politician a bit closely with these little known facts about him.
Balasaheb Thackeray was an accomplished cartoonist and started his career at the Free Press Journal, where he worked with the famous Indian cartoonist, R. K. Laxman.
He was the founder and chief editor of Marathi newspaper ‘Saamana’, which launched in 1989.
On July 28, 1999, 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.
Michael Jackson has visited the Sena chief and reportedly autographed the toilet he used during the visit. Bal Thackeray, whose own brother was a music director, presented the king of pop with a silver tabla and taanpura.
When Amitabh Bachchan was recovering from his Coolie injury, Balasaheb presented him with a cartoon entitled ‘Defeating Yamraj’.
In Salman Rushdie’s book ‘The Moor’s Last Sigh’, Bal Thackeray was satirised as Raman Fieldin and there was a caricature of his too. The book was banned in Maharashtra for fears of violent protests.
It is said that Bal Thackeray’s father Keshav Thackeray spelled his last name as ‘Thakre’ which was later changed by Bal Thackeray to ‘Thackeray’ because he was a great fan of the British author, William Makepeace Thackeray.
