November 17th 2012 is one of the historical day of Mumbai and in a way for India,India has lost one of the so called controversial yet charismatic leader Balasaheb Kesav Thackrey.Born to kesav Thackery in Pune and started his career as a professional cartoonist. His father Kesav sitaram Thackrey aka Prabhodankar Thackrey was a progressive socialist leader who fought against the caste biases.
In the early 1950s there use to be a Bombay state which comprised of the present day konkan, Maharashtra,Gujrat and vidharba where as maratwada was exception which was a part of Nizam's Hyderabad state. The Business community of Maharashtra was dominated by Gujaratis and few south indians,Thanks to the Thackrey family who demolished the communists in Mumbai through a movement. I always felt that the vibrant nature of mumbai which was an economic hub even before bristish came to india never suited the communists.we all know that communism was the biggest dud in world,so Thackrey with his cartoons in Freepress Journal did a formidable job with his cameos on Nehru,communists. After starting samuktha Maharashtra movement Thackery in a way had become a mass leader.
Balasaheb's decisions were always unpredictable and right from supporting Indira gandhi during sikh riots 1984, supporting Pratibha Patil as president of india in 2007 just because she is a marathi, supporting Pranab Mukherjee as president in 2012 , opposing the pakistani cricket team to tour india and yet inviting the people like Javed Miandad Ex-cricketer,Pop dancer Michael Jackson, Enron chief Rebecca Mark etc.
In a lighter vein indian leg spinner Anil Kumble should thank Balasaheb because he took 10 wickets against pakistan in feroz shah Kotla, Kotla 's -was dug by shiv sainiks 3 weeks before the India -Pak cricket tour.
Though i don't agree entirely with balasaheb on all issues but i do support him in many issues,Bottom line is that i have ambivalent feelings on him, But i was obnoxious about the way our main stream media treated him during the time of his death by demonizing him.we all know the complicit dealings of the main stream media who were involved in the 2G scam(Nira radia scam) and cash for vote scam, The hatred of media stems from the fact that most of them are either sold out or threatened by the first family of congress party due to their disproportional assets of editos. The shoma chaudary of Thehelka went to an extent of tweeting " I would have killed this bastard Bal Thackeray myself. Missed opportunity. Will do that to Narendra Modi" she latter deleted that tweet.They said that it was a muslim doctor who treated Balasaheb but fails to acknowledge that he was a secular in that way, None from the media said that muslim dawood ibrahim fed india after bombing Mumbai! Media said that Balasaheb is a hate monger but i am only seeing hate from media people. It is a high time that indian youth should realize the malicious intentions of media. Media is one of the most powerful weapon and it should not be perfidy to nation..
I will end with the positive notes about Balasaheb, Because of Balasaheb there is a freedom in Mumbai , Remember Dawood Ibrahim once had full inroads into Commerce, Film Industry, Stock Markets and politics of Mumbai,Maharashtra and Balasaheb has ensured that his network got dismantled. When the separatists in Kashmir did not allow hindus for Amarnath Shrine pilgrimage then Balasaheb said that if so none would go to Haj pilgrimage to Mecca from Mumbai and solved the problem. So my take is when Democracy and state fails we need Thackreys and it will take few more years for indian electorate to reach the level of maturity of western electorate.
