Bal Thackeray: The Tiger who can't be tamed

Arguably the most controversial figure of post-independence India, the Shiv Sena Pramukh Bal Thackeray is the most powerful man in Maharashtra and an equally feared and hated personality.

Arguably the most controversial figure of post-independence India, the Shiv Sena Pramukh Bal Thackeray is the most powerful man in Maharashtra and an equally feared and hated personality. With his amazingly absolute control over his fiercely loyal Shiv Sainiks, he can bring Mumbai and Maharashtra to a grinding halt in no time.

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Surprisingly for a man like him, Thackeray started his career in early fifties as a cartoonist in the Free Press Journal in Mumbai. His cartoons were also published in world famous dailies such as Tokyo's Asahi Shimboon and Sunday edition of The New York Times.

In 1960, he and his brother Shrikant launched a cartoon weekly Marmik. He used the journal to mobilize public support. One such campaign was against the growing influence of non-Marathi-people in Mumbai and called for the rights of 'Sons of the Soil'. The campaign gave birth to the Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966.

Soon, the Sena became his prime occupation. The Sena, with its unconventional, sometimes illegal and violent methods grew into a dominant force in Mumbai. The credit for taking the party to the far corners of the state goes to Thackeray's one time key lieutenant Chhagan Bhujbal, till recently Maharashtra Deputy CM and his bete-noire.

Bhujbal split from Thackeray in 1991 over differences on the Mandal Commission report and Thackeray's preference for Manohar Joshi as the leader of the opposition when the Sena-BJP won 85 of the 288 seats in 1990 polls.