'Thackeray' will be one for Balasaheb's legacy, what is the story of Mahabharata in Matoshree?

Uddhav & Raj Thackeray

White kurta… Brown Achkan on the shoulder… red vaccine on the forehead… and black frame glasses… Hair is completely stumbling backwards and a finger is telling aggressive style in front. When he held a brush in his hand, he would have taunted the biggest things through cartoons. Even though all these things meet Shiv Sena founder and Hindutva icon Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray, but similar style is another person named 'Swaraj' i.e. 'Raj Thackeray'.

Like Balasaheb Thackeray's attitude and his personality, everyone believed that Raj Thackeray, seeing Raj Thackeray's hot mood, would be the political heir of Balasaheb, but in the meantime an incident happened which took place in Raj Thackeray's political journey which proved a big turning point in his life. The situation became such that Raj Thackeray resigned from the party and did not even look like a party. Today, even though the discussion of Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray being one is once again arising, but there was a time when Raj Thackeray, who was said to be second after Balasaheb Thackeray, had to go out of the party.

'Swaraj' gets new identity 'Raj' with age

Raj Thackeray

Raj Thackeray's father Shrikant Thackeray had a special attachment to music. He named his son 'Swaraj' because of his music love. Swaraj means the 'king of notes'. Raj Thackeray's father taught tabla, guitar and violin to his son in childhood. Raj Thackeray was very close to his uncle Balasaheb since childhood. Whenever uncle was at home, Raj Thackeray would be seen on his lap. Meanwhile, in the year 1969, the heat of the controversy over the Karnataka border came to Mumbai and on seeing this, riots also erupted in Mumbai. Balasaheb's name came in these riots and had to go to jail for three months with his colleagues Manohar Joshi and Dattaji Salvi. After Balasaheb went to jail, his brother Srikanth went to jail to meet him. Raj Thackeray was also with him at that time. Uncle Balasaheb thought that Raj would come to him after seeing him but it did not happen. On this, Balasaheb said, I did not like to go to his (secret) but I am sure he will again get my love again.

Uddhav was a calm nature, there was a hot mood

Raj and Uddhav

Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray grew up together. Both used to study at Bal Mohan Vidya Mandir of Dadar together. Raj, who has always been behind Uddhav in studies, started learning the ways of uncle Balasaheb at an early age. While Uddhav loved spending time with his tau Srikanth. The wheel of the time continued in this way and both the children of the Thackeray family were now ready to step into the political corridor. In the year 1988, Balasaheb's nephew Raj Thackeray entered active politics. At that time, Balasaheb's son Uddhav used to go to all the public meetings of the party, but he was busy taking a picture of his father and brother. Within four years, Uddhav came into an active role in the Shiv Sena. The difference in the methods of functioning of Uddhav and Raj Thackeray was clearly visible. While Uddhav was quite calm, Raj was hot as his uncle. Raj was then made the head of the Indian Vidyarthi Sena and Shiv Udyog Sena, the student unit of Shiv Sena. Their job was to provide employment to Marathi youth. This was the time when pop star Michael Jackson's craze was increasing in the world. Seeing Michael Jackson's craze among Marathi youth, Raj Thackeray invited him to come to India and in 1996 Pop Star Mile Jackson did his show in Mumbai.

'King of Pop' gave 4 crore funds after seeing the crowd

On 1 November 1996, a huge crowd was standing at the Mumbai International Airport with a bouquet. Everyone wanted to see a look at King of Pop i.e. Michael Jackson. This was the first time Michael came to India to do a show. Raj Thackeray himself reached there to receive them. Sonali Bendre, who reached the airport with Raj Thackeray, welcomed Michael with a bouquet and her convoy stopped directly to Balasaheb's house 'Matoshree'. During the meeting with Michael, Balasaheb presented him with silver tabla and Tanpura. Michael is said to have been in Andheri Sports Complex. There was a capacity of 16 thousand people, but a crowd of 70 thousand people had gathered to watch the show. The purpose of this concert was to provide employment to 27 thousand youths. After this show, Michael Jackson gave Raj a fund of Rs 4 crore. After this concert, everyone felt that Balasaheb Thackeray would hand over his legacy further to Raj Thackeray but something else was going on in Balasaheb's mind.

Ramesh Kini murder became a turning point

Raj Thackeray

Raj Thackeray's stature in Shiv Sena was gradually increasing. By the year 2000, after Balasaheb in Shiv Sena, his nephew Raj Thackeray became the second leader. Everyone had an idea that Raj Thackeray would take the Shiv Sena forward now. But no one knew that Ramesh Kini murder case would prove to be the turning point of his political career for Raj Thackeray. Please tell that a dead body was found in Alka Talkies of Pune. This body belonged to Ramesh Kini, a resident of Matunga in Mumbai. On the second day, Leader of the Opposition Chhagan Bhujbal called a press conference in which Ramesh Kini's wife Sheela was present with him. In the press conference, Sheela blamed Raj Thackeray for killing her husband. He said that at the behest of Raj Thackeray, my husband has been kidnapped and murdered. At the time when this incident happened, Manohar Joshi of Shiv Sena was the Chief Minister in Maharashtra while BJP leader Gopinath Munde was the Deputy Chief Minister. The Ramesh Kini massacre intensified the movement in Maharashtra's politics.

Uddhav was getting big responsibility in BMC elections

In 2002, Uddhav Thackeray became fully active in the Shiv Sena at the behest of his father. He attended all the party programs and meetings. Uddhav Thackeray understood his father's gesture. The same thing happened as it was being thought. Balasaheb handed over the responsibility of election of Mumbai Metropolitan Municipality to Uddhav in a planned manner. Raj Thackeray was very angry with this but could not say anything. In this election, Shiv Sena-BJP got 133 out of 227 seats. While 60 in the account of Congress and 12 got 12 seats while SP got only 10 seats. With this election, Uddhav's hold in politics became stronger. With this victory, it was decided that Uddhav Thackeray would be the chief of Shiv Sena.

Shiv Sena's future was decided in Mahabaleshwar session

Shiv Sena session was held on 30 January 2003 in Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra. In the hall filled with Shiv Sena leaders, everyone was surprised when Raj Thackeray proposed to make Uddhav Thackeray the president of the party. No one has understood why Raj Thackeray did this that day till date. In this session, Balasaheb unanimously appointed son Uddhav Thackeray as the executive chairman of Shiv Sena. Ever since Uddhav became the executive president, a rift between Raj Thackeray and his uncle started increasing, which later also appeared in many party programs.

Balasaheb was disturbed by the change of nephew

Balasaheb and Raj Thackeray

The changing attitude of Raj Thackeray started appearing to everyone. Bala Saheb also understood that Raj Thackeray is not happy with his decisions and has started showing rebellious attitude. Meanwhile, on 10 December 2005, a column of Bala Saheb Thackeray was published in Shiv Sena's main paper 'Saamana'. In which Shiv Sena workers were told whether Shiv Sena would be divided into two parts? What kind of partition will be the party? He said that all of you should leave worry about the future of the party and think about Maharashtra. We know how to protect our fort, because the Shiv Sena is invincible and indestructible.

My quarrel is not with my Vitthal, but with the priests around him: Raj

Uddhav Thackeray's stature was increasing continuously in the Shiv Sena divided into two groups. Uddhav's threat could be clearly seen in every decision of the party. In the year 2005, when the stir in the party intensified, Uddhav Thackeray wrote a letter to Balasaheb Thackeray saying that the quartet of the sycophants is misleading you. Not only this, Konkan also held this quartet responsible for losing the Lok Sabha seat. Everyone knew who Uddhav was pointing to. Tashan was increasing between Uddhav and Raj. After seeing the way Balasaheb's inclination was towards Uddhav, Raj understood that without the support of Balasaheb, he would never be able to capture the Shiv Sena and the party. In such a situation, in December 2005, he decided to leave the Shiv Sena. Before leaving the party, he said, “My quarrel is not with my Vitthal, but is from the priests around him.” Some people do not even know the ABC of politics, they are eager to snatch the command of the party. So I am resigning from the post of Shiv Sena. Balasaheb Thackeray was my God, and will always be.

'Marathi Manus's party' started again

Raj Thackeray

There was a packed crowd at Shivaji Park ground on the evening of 9 March 2006. A new colored flag was seen everywhere. Which had four colors. The saffron color was a symbol of Hindutva while the green color was a symbol of the Muslims and the blue color was a symbol of Dalits. There was a two white bandage in the middle of the flag which was placed as a symbol of peace. There was also the reason behind choosing Shivaji Park. In fact, in 1966, Dada Prabodhakar handed over the command of Shiv Sena to Balasaheb Thackeray in this ground. With the formation of the party, Raj Thackeray announced that this party will rule in Maharashtra. Raj Thackeray made promises of development to the people of Maharashtra. He said that now he will work in a new way for the development of Maharashtra. Raj described MNS as 'Marathi Manus Party'.