Veteran Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi hospitalised with brain haemorrhage

Former chief minister and senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi (85) was admitted to Hinduja Hospital on Monday evening after a brain haemorrhage

Former chief minister and senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi (85) was admitted to Hinduja Hospital on Monday evening after a brain haemorrhage.

Parliament affairs minister Sushma Swaraj greets Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi as he arrive for the Winter Session at Parliament in the Capital on Tuesday. Today Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi celebrating his birthday also. Photo : Ajay Aggarwal 02.12.2003

Sources from the hospital said that after Joshi was hospitalised, he was scanned and a tumour was found in his brain. “Because of the age constraint, no biopsy was done but he needed a ventilator soon after admission,” they said.

Joshi fell unconscious on Monday evening at his residence, following which he was rushed to hospital. “Doctors have said that he will be under observation for the next 24 hours,” said his son, Unmesh.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, his wife Rashmi Thackeray, and many other Shiv Sena leaders apart from Congress leaders Nana Patole and Arif Naseem Khan visited Joshi in the hospital.

Joshi, who was the first Shiv Sena chief minister of the state after the Sena-BJP government came to power in 1995, was a member of the party right from its inception in 1966. He served as Mumbai mayor, leader of the opposition in the assembly, Lok Sabha speaker and union minister for heavy industries, apart from his stint of over three and a half years as CM.

Born on December 2, 1937, Joshi rose from a life of grinding poverty in Nandvi village in Konkan’s Raigad district. He was a founder member of the Shiv Sena and worked closely with Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.

Joshi was also known for his network of Kohinoor Technical Institutes in the city. Students and staff called him ‘Sir’, and later all Sainiks too did the same. The Shiv Sena’s struggle for the Marathi manoos had begun with a fight for jobs, and Joshi believed that they also needed skilled labour jobs, in which his institute played a significant training role.

His close association with Mumbai city and his grasp of various development issues helped Joshi forcefully champion the cause of Mumbai in the years after he became a member of the state legislature. The slum rehabilitation scheme with FSI benefits and a saleable component—the brainchild of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray—was implemented by him. He also helped the Shiv Sena and BJP cement ties.

During the Shiv Sena-BJP rule, there was a growing discontent against Joshi, and finally the party took a call to replace him with Narayan Rane. Many saw this as a setback for Joshi, but he was asked to contest the Lok Sabha elections and won. He was made minister for heavy industries in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government. After the untimely death of then speaker GMC Balayogi in a helicopter crash, he was unanimously appointed as Lok Sabha speaker.

In 2004, Joshi lost the Lok Sabha election to Eknath Gaikwad of the Congress, but his party nominated him to the Rajya Sabha from 2006 to 2012. When the Congress state government was not taking a call on the proposed Bal Thackeray memorial, he criticised Uddhav Thackeray for not taking a firm stand on this, for which he was later booed at the Shiv Sena’s Dusshera rally in 2013.

Joshi lost his wife, Anagha, due to post-Covid complications and, by all accounts, was leading a lonely life after her death.