'At his shakhas, you would meet all the small people of society...' remembers journalist Olga Tellis who knew the Shiv Sena leader for many decades.'He gave them an identity. He helped them feel relevant in the city, and his people loved it.'
I adored Bal Thackeray. He had a historic sense of humour. He was such fun.
He was completely different from any other politician. He was so progressive. He was not a hypocrite.
What he said, he meant. What he meant, he said.
What he was in the last 20 years is a different story. When I used to meet him, he was the quintessential Bal Thackeray. He was very modern in his outlook. He, really, fought for the poor. He didn't only talk about them. He DID help them. He really fought for the economically weaker sections.
He started so many schemes. He started ambulance services for people. He started meal services.
He didn't ask too much for the poor. He wanted small jobs reserved for them. He didn't ask for a thousand rupee job in those days. He would ask for employment for them.
All other politicians spoke about the poor, but this man actually gave them jobs. He sincerely protected their jobs.
He was so successful because he cared for the poor.
At his shakhas you would meet all the small people of society. Those people who won't find jobs easily. In Mumbai and all over Maharashtra, he had shakhas.
These people who had pav bhaji stalls and such small jobs would be his shakha pramukhs. He had set the line of command in his party. Everybody had a job to do.
He gave them an identity. He helped them feel relevant in the city. His people loved it.
The economically weaker sections in Maharashtra and others owe him so much. He talked about the upliftment of Maharashtra. He told the poor people of Maharashtra YOU are somebody. He gave them a feeling of pride. 'You may be a clerk or peon, but you are somebody who is doing a job.'
He started employment agencies. He saw that in Mumbai, every community worked for itself. Only Maharashtrians had nobody to look after them. He took care of them.
He gave thousands of people employment. How he did it is another story.
I don't think a large part of the blame for the changes that have taken place in Mumbai goes to the Shiv Sena. Mumbai is not the same for anybody. It has been taken over by the builders, thanks to the Congress.
Mumbai has become a rich man's city. The city is still cosmopolitan, but now it is the rich man's Mumbai. The neo-rich politicians and neo-rich bureaucrats have taken over Mumbai.
Everyone from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and other places owns a flat in the city. It is not the Shiv Sena, but the builders who have ruined Mumbai.
I see Thackeray as a tremendously successful politician. His work continued till the end.
He had terrific ideas. His schemes could not continue because the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party lost power. Then his schemes become a money-making racket for the Congress and others.
Filmmaker Ashok Pandit told me a story about him.
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