Bal Thackeray & The Rise of the Shiv Sena

How did a quiet, unassuming cartoonist at one of India’s leading newspapers transform into the fire-breathing chief of a militant political outfit? How did his essentially sons-of-the-soil movement take Mumbai by storm in the 1960s with its demands for the Marathi people’s employment rights and attacks on South Indians and the Communists? How did he make the shift from an aggressive Maharashtrianism to strident Hindutva to become one of the major players in Indian politics? What explains his control over India’s financial capital, his capture of power in India’s industrial powerhouse, Maharashtra, and his ability to win over the minds of millions and to strike fear in so many hearts? How did he and his Shiv Sena establish sway over the multi-crore film industry and, with its longstanding alliance with the BJP, become a subject of intense curiosity all over India and even in Pakistan? This book tells the complete story of Bal Thackeray and the rise, fall and split of the Shiv Sena. It examines Thackeray the person and his intriguing political personality, his party’s militaristic methods of operation, its controversial role at major junctures, the fight between Thackeray’s nephew Raj and son Uddhav, the end of an era in Maharashtra politics after his death in November 2012 and the future of the Shiv Sena without his imposing presence. A must-read for an understanding of contemporary Indian politics and the rise of the Hindu nationalist phenomenon.