Bala Saheb Thackeray was a man of contradictions. Following are some less known facts about Bal Thackeray : 1. Thackeray once told that he s...
Bala Saheb Thackeray was a man of contradictions. Following are some less known facts about Bal Thackeray :
1. Thackeray once told that he stopped believing in God when his beloved wife Meena Tai Thackeray died while returning from Pune to Mumbai on Mumbai Pune highway. He could not take her to a nearby hospital due to heavy traffic.
2. Thackeray threatened to disrupt India -Pakistan cricket match. At his behest, Shiv Sainiks burnt the Wankhede pitch and vandalised BCCI office in Mumbai. While, he also invited Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad (who is hated in India for hitting six at the last ball in Sharjah ) for lunch at his legendary home Matoshree. He had the chutzpah of carrying the contradictions.
3. He mocked even BJP and its leaders while being in alliance. When Chief minister Manohar Joshi said in BJP national executive meeting in Mumbai that BJP and Shiv Sena are like brothers, BJP is Ram and Shiv Sena is Lakshaman. Thakeray mocked his own CM in his mouthpiece Saamna writing “Thank god he didn’t compare us to the monkeys”. He had an impeccable sense of humour.
4. When BJP affiliated parties launched Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) and held rallies on sensitizing people about ills of multi nationals and foreign products, Thackeray observed “ When these people shout slogan of Swadeshi Zindabad by raising their hands, you can see that they have foreign watches on their wrists”. He called out the hypocrisy of Swadeshi movement leaders.
5. He had his political agenda and ideological differences but went out of way to nurture personal relations. For e.g. He supported candidature of Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule to Rajya Sabha even though his alliance partner BJP was against it.
6. He spewed venom against Muslims in his party newspapaer Saamna but his personal physician was a Muslim - Dr. Jameel Parkar.
7. He never stepped out of his home (Matoshree) to meet any politician of any stature. Everyone including Dy PM L.K. Advani called on him at his home. This also gave him larger than life image and immense popularity among his followers.
8. He preferred company of artists, film industry people more than politicians. He was very fond of movies and had many friends from film industry who used to visit him at his home. Some notable examples are Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachhan.
9. He supported Emergency in 1975. In later part of his life, he mildly regretted that decision.
10. Nehru appreciated him as a young cartoonist of Free Press Journal when he published cartoon of Nehru posing more as British than Indian.
11. When Amitabh Bachhan was badly injured during shooting of film Coolie in 1982, he was brought from Bangalore to Mumbai. It was ambulance sent by Thackeray which took Amitabh Bachhan from Mumbai Airport to breach Candy hospital in time for medical treatment. Amitabh even today keeps on telling about this gesture of Thackeray.
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