Bal Thackeray

The standing custom of not to speak ill of the dead has to be waived in the case of Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray: a bigot whose legacy was to make the state of Maharashtra inhospitable to anyone not a Marathi. He and his party, the Shiv Sena, instigated and cheered on violence against Muslims, often taking part in it. Till his dying breath, Thackeray was unrepentant so it would be a great disservice to history to gloss over his crimes. Thackeray’s intent in forming the Shiv Sena was to promote the rights of Marathis but at the expense of denying the rights of other groups. In his 40-year career, he incited violence against Muslims, south Indians, Gujratis and Marwaris. His party thrived on gangsterism, often filling their coffers by taking protection money from businesses in the state.

Thackeray should, at best, have been a regional leader with limited influence. Unfortunately, the rise of the equally extremist Bharatiya Janata Party meant that the Shiv Sena was a part of the government in the mid-2000s. Although Thackeray himself did not take any official position in government, it was well known that he was operating the levers of power from behind the scenes. He was still the man who had called Muslims a “cancer”. He picked fights at whim, including a pointless one with cricketing demigod Sachin Tendulkar for the ‘crime’ of saying that he considered himself an Indian first and a Maharashtrian second.

In Pakistan, Thackeray was best known as the biggest thorn in the side of our cricket team. No tour to India was complete without a few menacing words from the leader and even included thuggish actions like digging up pitches. Here is a man who should have died in disgrace. Instead, he was given a state funeral and effusive praise from every politician, businessman and actor in the country. One would like to think this was motivated by fear rather than genuine admiration. Thackeray may be dead but the violent Shiv Sena lives on, ready to strike all who dare cross its bigoted path.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2012.