Know Your Leader #RajThakrey
Raj Thackeray's given name is a hypocorism of Swararaj. His parents were Shrikant Thackeray (younger brother of Bal Thackeray) and Kunda Thackeray (younger sister of Bal Thackeray's wife Meena Thackeray). As a child he learnt tabla, guitar and violin. Thackeray is a graduate of Mumbai's Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art. Upon graduation he joined Marmik, the weekly magazine of Bal Thackeray, as a cartoonist.
Political career
Early years in Shiv Sena
Thackeray started his political career by launching the student wing of Shiv sena called Bharatiya Vidyarthi sena. He came to prominence during the campaign for 1990 Maharashtra assembly elections. During the 1990s, Raj believed himself to the heir of his uncle, Balasaheb. However, Balasaheb showed strong preference for his own son, Uddhav.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
Years after being sidelined by Bal Thackeray's other leaders working for him, the disillusioned Thackeray resigned from Shiv sena on 27th November 2005 and announced his intention to start a new political party. On 9 March 2006 in Mumbai, Thackeray founded "Maharashtra Navnirman Sena" party which is now running as an opposition party in Maharashtra.
Controversies
2008 Anti-North Indian campaign
Main article: 2008 attacks on Uttar Pradeshi and Bihari migrants in Maharashtra
In February 2008 Raj Thackeray led a violent movement against migrants from the North Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in Maharashtra and more so in its commercial capital, Mumbai. At a rally in Shivaji Park, Raj warned that if the dadagiri (intimidating dominance) of these people (North Indians) in Mumbai and Maharashtra continued, he would be compelled to make them leave the metropolis. Raj was arrested along with a Samajwadi Party leader, Abu Azmi, but was released on paying a penalty of ₹15,000 (US$200).
Australian ban
His party, along with Shiv Sena banned Australian cricketers participating in IPL 3 from playing in Mumbai as a protest against the attack on Indian students in Australia.
Business signboards in Marathi
In July 2008, Raj issued a public warning that shops in Mumbai needed to have Marathi signboards in addition to the existing English signboards. He warned that after one month, MNS workers would start blackening non-Marathi signboards. While there had been a law to this effect passed earlier by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, it had not been enforced. In September 2008, MNS workers resorted to blackening signboards, to enforce the demand, after which most shop owners complied. Six MNS workers were arrested but later released on bail.
Jaya Bachchan
Jaya Bachchan, veteran actor and MP of Samajwadi Party, during the Music launch of the Hindi film Drona, said 'Hum UP (Uttar Pradesh) ke log hain, isliye Hindi mein baat karenge, Maharashtra ke log Maaf Kijiye' (We are people of UP, so we will speak in Hindi. People of Maharashtra, please excuse). Thackeray commented that she had no business alluding to all the people of Maharashtra in that statement. He threatened to ban all Bachchan films unless Jaya apologised in a public forum for hurting Maharashtrians. MNS workers began to attack theatres featuring films affiliated to her. It was only after Amitabh tendered an apology that the screening resumed. Following Raj's threat, Maharashtra Police acted against Raj, issuing a gag order preventing him from speaking to the media.
Jet airways staff reinstatement
In October 2008, Jet Airways laid off 800 temporary workers and announced layoffs of an additional 1100 workers. The laid-off workers included Marathi as well as North-Indians. Thackeray was asked to intervene. Following this, Raj Thackeray declared that most of these workers had paid security deposits to the company, and he would meet Jet management to plead their case. Unless Jet Airways cancelled the layoffs, his party would not allow any Jet Airways plane to take off from any airport in Maharashtra. Within 12 hours of Raj Thackeray's declaration, Jet chairman Naresh Goyal reversed the layoffs and reinstated the sacked employees. He said that he did it on his own and that there was no political pressure on him.
On 2 October 2009, MNS workers disrupted the screening of the film Wake Up Sid on its release in a few Pune and Mumbai theatres, after Raj objected to references in the movie to "Bombay" rather than "Mumbai". The city of Mumbai was referred to as "Bombay" in many scenes and in some songs (lyrics by Javed Akhtar). The film's producer, Karan Johar, visited Raj's residence to apologise, and agreed to all of Raj's terms, including an apology on each of the 700 frames in the film.
Telecom companies in Maharashtra had been providing customer service in English & Hindi only. Raj demanded that all telecom companies operating in Maharashtra start providing the service in Marathi also and set a deadline of 27 February 2010, after which his party MNS would launch an agitation. Following this demand, all telecom companies complied, introducing Marathi as an additional option in their customer service.
In Dec 2011, Raj Thackeray meeting a group from MES (Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti) advised them that they should revisit their stand of merging Belgaum with Maharashtra in the interest of Marathi speaking people of Belgaum. In a major departure from the earlier held stand of traditional right wing groups of Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray pointed out that a practical approach rather than an emotional one is the need of the hour. However, he advocated that if the Supreme Court of India itself gives a decision in favour of Belgaum's merger, he would welcome it but the local situation in Belgaum should not be vitiated for the sake of it. He asked the MES leaders to first identify the real issue as to whether Marathis in Belgaum are being targeted for espousing the cause of Marathi language or because they were supporting the merger of Belgaum with Maharashtra. Lamenting that strikes and bandhs only add to the misery of the Marathi-speaking community in Belgaum, Thackeray said: "If the Karnataka government is ready to respect the Marathi people, their culture and language, then there is nothing wrong in Belgaum being there." His comments were strongly criticised by his cousin Uddhav as a cruel joke on the Marathi people.
