At the beginning of his career, Thackeray worked as a cartoonist for Free Press Journal
During his early days, Bal Keshav Thackeray was an outspoken opponent of Congress. As a rebel from an early age, Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray was born on the same day as Subhash Chandra Bose, January 23, 1927. His social worker father was unable to afford Thackeray’s school fees in sixth grade, which caused him to withdraw from school. Despite the lack of school education, he was wise and talented, had a command of languages, and could read between the lines and analyze a situation with extraordinary accuracy. This follower held a remarkable place in his heart as a comic artist, journalist, politician and above all, a great leader. For almost 40 years, he ruled Mumbai.
In the early days of his career, Thackeray worked as a cartoonist with the Free Press Journal. He could not afford to keep his house running with the money he used to get. Consequently, he worked for several advertising agencies and magazines, including Lintas. There, he designed advertisements and illustrated sketches. One day, he told his father, Keshav (called Prabodhankar by his friends and family), that he didn’t make much money by doing these cartoons and decided to start his comic book. His proposal for a weekly was supported by Pabodhnakar, who suggested the name ‘Marmik’. It was published in New Delhi then and was the only cartoon weekly in the country.
Yashwantrao Chavan, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, published ‘Marmik’ on August 13, 1960, at Balmohan Vidya Mandir in Dadar. Thackeray edited the magazine. There was a punch line in it: “Khicho na Kaman, na talwar nikalo, jab tp mukabil ho to akhbar nikalo.”. Thackeray discussed political and social issues in Marmik. He addressed the issue of migrants in an editorial he wrote for Marmik on May 1, 1966. It is wrong for the government to grant land, electricity, and water to industries in Maharashtra. In contrast, the owners of these industries employ workers from outside the state. Is it right to give work to migrants while the locals are looking for a job?” he wrote in his blog. It was also revealed in the same issue that only three migrant officers were from Maharashtra while the rest of them were from outside Maharashtra – mainly from south India. Maharashtra is insulted by that declaration,” Thackeray wrote. He began his campaign against migrants with that statement. The list of non-Maharashtrian officers at various establishments published by Marmik then progressed to include a series of them. The report also established that locals were denied employment opportunities at government and private hospitals because non-Maharashtrian doctors occupied positions. Considering these lists to be ‘Vacha ani Utha‘ (Read and awake), he gave them a name.
As a taunt to the neutral locals, he published a list of officers in Hindustan Lever on October 16, 1966. Still, the title was changed to ‘Vacha ani thand basa’ (Read and keep quiet). This article encouraged the locals to fight injustice together with him. He became famous when he wrote the following from his writings: ‘Kaalcha Madrashi, thodyach divest tupashi’ (The Madrasi who recently arrived became wealthy) in that period of history. Marmik’s next issue will have an article about Thackeray launching the Shiv Sena soon to combat the attacks of the and-gundus (south Indians).
June 19, 1966, was the day on which he founded Shiv Sena. The Shiv Sena will hold a rally at Dadar’s Shivaji Park on October 30, 1966, according to an announcement Thackeray made in Marmik on October 23, 1966. In Marmik, Thackeray called on every self-respecting Marathi to come to the rally to stop the insults in the state. In response to the publication of the organization’s activities. The newspaper soon became the Shiv Sena mouthpiece.
The first legal case against Thackeray
In his first case against street vendors, Thackeray went to court. He charged the Fort area vendors with smuggling through a petition. Also involved in the case were Pramod Navalkar and Manohar Joshi.
The first attempt to take Thackeray down
Bal Thackeray was the subject of the first communist attack in May 1969 at Nagpur airport. While there, Thackeray was holding a rally. Nagpur airport was his last stop on the way back to Mumbai around 1:30 a.m. Thackeray read ‘Wild Life in India’ during the stopover at Nagpur airport. Ten communist workers requested an interview with Thackeray. The time of the flight’s departure was fast approaching, so Thackeray refused to talk about anything. The one person who wanted to get close to Thackeray was Manohar Naidu from the group. As soon as Thackeray knew something was wrong, he slapped him. After that, shiv sainiks began attacking communist workers surrounding him.
Thackeray’s remarks about Shiv Sena
Thackeray explained the Shiv Sena’s vision to ‘Marmik’ in a non-political interview.
The awareness that Shiv Sena has created will last forever. There will never be a need to replace it. Instead, the question is how transparently it will be continued. Someday, that will be the question. It must be considered that whoever runs Shiv Sena must avoid converting it to a political party. Shiv Sena should remain as Shiv Sena only. No one can touch it as long as Shiv Sena remains Shiv Sena. This is true regardless of whether I am in attendance. Diluting the Sena won’t be tolerated by the people themselves.”
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