How Thackerays went separate ways

Gaurav Kanthwal

Dhaval Kulkarni’s The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the Shadow of their Senas analyses how the trouble started brewing between the two Thackeray cousins once they got into politics. The internal struggle for supremacy in the party, their contrasting styles of working, and their diametrically opposite dispositions ended up splitting Shiv Sena in 2006. 

On January 30, 2003, Raj had moved the resolution to make Uddhav the new working president of the party in the Mahabaleshwar conclave. He later said he was forced to do this: “I had no powers to appoint a shakha pramukh, but I appointed an executive president.” Kulkarni quotes multiple sources saying that Raj, though popular among the masses from the beginning, had little say in the party’s organisational structure. Much has been written about the mutual respect and admiration Bal Thackeray and Raj had for each other. Yet, when it came to passing on his legacy, it was obvious who the Shiv Sena chief would choose.

After the split, Uddhav seems to have silently turned the public opinion in his favour. Under him, Shiv Sena has realised that Maharashtrians comprise only 43 per cent of Mumbai’s population; they are a dominant-minority, not a majority community in the capital of their state. Hence, the party can no longer afford to antagonise outsiders. Raj and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, on the other hand, continue to toe the traditional Shiv Sena line,  resulting in alienation from both the BJP and the Congress.

Today, Raj vigorously espouses the cause of collective identity and pride of Marathi manoos but his grandfather Prabodhankar Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, in his autobiography Majhi Jeevangatha (The Story of My Life), says that his family, which belonged to Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) caste, originally hailed from Pali village in Bhor principality of the modern-day Bihar. CKPs migrated to other states, including Maharashtra, and served as ministers, scribes, diplomats and warriors in Maratha courts.

Tracing the rise of Shiv Sena, the author notes it may be the first in India to have originated from a cartoon’s expression. The Thackeray brothers’ cartoon weekly, Marmik, launched in 1960, led to the birth of Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966. It has a rich history of using audio-visual medium in polls — the Shiv Sena leaders are deft at using oratorical skills, songs, magazines (Saamna, 1989) and cartoons to push its ideology and crystalise them into votes in elections. Raj’s satirical video campaign, Ae, lao toh re video, highlighting the Centre’s failure was a huge success in the last Lok Sabha polls.

The duo’s early childhood and personal life have been described from close quarters. The author quotes Thackeray’s family friends, journalists, politicians, opponents, political commentators and other sources to give a wider perspective on the Thackeray clan. There is an exhaustive list of notes and bibliography at the end of the book.

Raj’s was originally christened Swararaj by his musician father Shrikant, who wanted him to become a musician, but uncle Bal Thackeray asked him to shorten it to Raj. Uddhav, on the other hand, was nicknamed Dinga by Shrikant, Bal Thackeray’s younger brother. Bal Thackeray married Sarla Vaidya in 1948 and later Shrikant married Sarla’s younger sister, Kunda, in 1968, making Uddhav and Raj first cousins twice over.

Kulkarni writes that the probable reason for Raj imbibing his uncle’s mannerism was because he mostly lived with his uncle, while Uddhav was closer to Shrikant. Raj imbibed his uncle’s love for cartooning and arts as well. The anecdotes from the duo’s lives add spice to the book. One such instance is about Raj Thackeray’s wedding, where many celebrities were invited. When people got to know that Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, a family friend, would also be coming, they ended up crowding the place. An irritated Raj said it was his marriage but people were waiting for Amitabh Bachchan!

This book is not just about two supremos and their millitias, it also maps Maharashtra, particularly Mumbai, through the matrix of culture, economy, politics, and geography. Issues like opposition to outsiders working in Maharashtra, preference for Marathi language, farmer suicides, droughts and workers unrest have also been dealt with.