The pipe-smoking, beer-loving, self-styled Hindu hriday samrat (‘emperor of Hindu hearts’), could bring Mumbai and the entire State of Maharashtra to a standstill by a single command.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/bal-thackeray-19262012/article4097888.ece?ref=slideshowBal Thackeray, a Hindu extremist leader linked to waves of mob violence against Muslims and migrant workers in India, died Saturday after an illness of several weeks. He was 86.
Thackeray 's Sena is among the most xenophobic of India's Hindu right-wing political parties and held power in Mumbai from 1995 to 2000. His supporters often called him Hindu Hriday Samrat or emperor of Hindu hearts.
In 1992, members of Hindu right-wing groups, including the Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, were instrumental in destroying a 16th century mosque in north India that they said was the birthplace of the Hindu god Rama, and Thackeray was blamed for the violence and rioting that followed. In Mumbai alone, nearly 1,000 people were killed.
Throughout his political career Thackeray was a powerful, rabble-rousing orator who routinely sanctioned the use of violence to propagate his political views. He was arrested at least twice for his for inflammatory speeches and writing.
His extreme regional and religious parochialism led him to advocate Hindu suicide bombers and planting bombs in Muslim neighborhoods to "protect the nation and all Hindus."
His followers often attacked and rampaged through the offices of media houses that he claimed were anti-Maharashtrian and anti-Hindu and threatened to dig up cricket pitches ahead of matches between largely Hindu India and its Muslim-majority neighbor Pakistan.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/11/17/hindu-extremist-leader-bal-thackeray-dies-in-india-says-doctor/Bal Thackeray, a staunch advocate of Hindu nationalism in India and the leader of a political party that dominated the country's financial capital, died Saturday, his spokesman said.
The movement has immense political power in Mumbai, India's financial center and site of the legendary Bollywood film industry.
Its symbol is an orange flag, seen planted across Mumbai. Thackeray was instrumental in having the name of Bombay changed to Mumbai, a Marathi name.
And Thackeray had developed a reputation among many Indians as a bit of a godfather, revered by his followers but feared by others.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/17/world/asia/india-thackeray-death/index.html?hpt=hp_t3http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20376653
Topic: Indias biggest funeral, Revered Anti-Muslim leader dies, Mumbai halts (Read 1932 times)