Bal Thackeray memorial to be ready by next year-end

The project, which is coming up at the erstwhile Mayor’s bungalow on the Dadar sea face, includes underground galleries, which will display the cartoons of the late Sena chief, and have audio-visual clips and films on his life and career

The ₹400-crore memorial to late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray will be opened to the public by next year-end.

Mumbai, India - July 25, 2022: Balasaheb Thackeray Rashtriya Smarak at Shivaji Park, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, July 25, 2022. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

The project, which is coming up at the erstwhile Mayor’s bungalow on the Dadar sea face, includes underground galleries, which will display the cartoons of the late Sena chief, and have audio-visual clips and films on his life and career. The bungalow, a heritage structure, will also have a gallery on the Thackeray family and the growth of the party.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) president and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray made the announcement on Saturday.

“This is not just a museum which will have photographs, cartoons, and Balasaheb’s objects which are with us. This will be a place to seek inspiration from,” Thackeray said.

“It will have displays of all the Shiv Sena’s chief ministers [so far]. It will not include those pretenders who have taken Sena’s name,” he said in a swipe at party rebel and chief minister Eknath Shinde and his ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’.

Former minister and senior Sena leader Subhash Desai said the construction will be completed by April-May. “Before that, work on the memorial and the indoor arrangements will begin. We expect that most of the work will be completed by 2023-end and it will be opened to the people later.”

The state government has already allocated ₹400 crore for the project and in the first phase, construction works worth ₹181 crore are underway. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has been appointed as the implementing agency by the state, Desai said.

The under-construction memorial is located opposite the iconic Shivaji Park, with which the Shiv Sena has a strong historical, emotional and organic link. It was born at the nearby Ranade Road residence of Bal Thackeray on June 19, 1966 and it held its first public meeting at the ground on Dussehra day in October that year, marking the beginning of this convention. The Thackerays have also addressed public meetings at the ground.

Bal Thackeray passed away in November 2012, and was cremated at Shivaji Park.