Leadership Lessons from the life of the Dominant Leader: Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray

Leadership Lessons from the life of the Dominant Leader: Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray

Who can believe that around 20 lacs people in metro city like Mumbai were present in funeral procession and cremation of 86 year old man. But one has to believe this when we are talking about a dominant leader Shri Balasaheb Thackeray. We all know him as founder of Shiv Sena, some believe that he was the political Godfather of Mumbai, etc. etc. but the fact is that he was one of the dominant leader and owner of charismatic personality. Shri Bal Thackeray was known for his opposition to domestic and foreign migrants, which was directly at odds with the reality of India’s cosmopolitan business capital, and his tight grip on Mumbai, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. Bollywood stars, politicians and tycoons were said to visit him and touch his feet, acknowledging their need for his approval.

If we analyze his life as  a leader, one can learn many lessons.

Shri Bal Thackeray started his career as a cartoonist in the Free Press Journal in Bombay. In few days he became very popular for his cartoons with very high level of humors. His cartoons were also published in the Sunday edition of The Times of India. In 1960, he launched a cartoon weekly Marmik with his brother. He used it to campaign against the growing numbers and influence of non-Marathi people in Mumbai, targeting Gujaratis and South Indian labor workers. After Thackeray's differences with the Free Press Journal, he and four or five people, including George Fernandes, left the paper and started their own daily News Day. The paper survived for one or two months.

Now that was the time for his entry in Indian Politics and for the same, 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. The early objective of the Shiv Sena was to ensure job security for Maharashtrians competing against immigrants from southern India, Gujaratis and Marwaris. In 1989, the Sena's newspaper Saamna was launched.

Politically, the Shiv Sena was anti-communist and wrested control of trade unions in Mumbai from the Communist Party of India and extorted money from Gujarati and marwari business leaders. It later allied itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the common issue of Hindu Nationalism which both parties believed in. The BJP-Shiv Sena combine won the 1995 Maharashtra State Assembly elections and came to power. During the tenure of the government from 1995 to 1999, Thackeray was nicknamed 'remote control' and 'The Kingmaker' since he played a major role in government policies and decisions from behind the scenes. Though the year of 1996 was very shocking for him as he lost his wife Meena to a heart attack in September 1996, and his eldest son Bindumadhav ("Binda") to a road accident on 20 Aprl 1996, but these shocks could not stop him.

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. After the six-year voting ban on Thackeray was lifted in 2005, he voted for the first time in the 2006 BMC elections. 

Thackeray claimed that the Shiv Sena had 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 organized to struggle against those who oppose their identity and religion. especially in the public sector. Opposition leftist parties allege that the Shiv Sena has done little to solve the problem of unemployment facing a large proportion of Maharashtrian youth during its tenure, in contradiction to its ideological foundation of 'sons of the soil. 

Really the life of this Marathi Manoos was full of obstacles but he converted all the difficulties and problems in opportunities and shown the way to fight against injustice not only to Maharashtrians but also all citizens of India. Today, it is very difficult to fill his place in Indian politics.