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Journalism of Courage
All the years that the Thackeray father and son duo were together active in politics, son Uddhav was seen as projecting an image diametrically opposite to his father Balasaheb in his mannerisms, oration and people-management skills. Soon after taking over as the party chief, Uddhav appeared keen to break away from his father’s shadow, not just in appearance but also in how he did politics, transforming and normalising a party that was once associated sometimes with outright bigotry through his father’s pronouncements.
But with the ongoing political crisis that has engulfed the Thackeray family, a deliberate attempt is being made by Uddhav’s team to refashion his image as the true inheritor of Bal Thackeray’s political legacy.
One such instance was Uddhav’s speech, delivered on Saturday from the sunroof of his car to his supporters outside his residence in Bandra East. Within minutes, many of his loyalists used the son’s picture atop his car to draw comparisons with father Bal Thackeray’s penchant for delivering similar speeches from atop cars, when the Sena was finding its feet in Mumbai in the early 60s.
During his early days as a politician, Bal Thackeray extensively used his Fiat car that had an inbuilt PA system to deliver soapbox speeches across Bombay and Thana of the 1960s.
The most remembered is Balasaheb’s incendiary speech delivered from atop an Ambassador car outside the Gateway of India, espousing the cause of the “Marathi Manoos”, and vowing to bar non-native Maharashtrians from entering Mumbai.
An equally fiery speech was delivered by the father on February 7, 1969, from atop a jeep in Mahim, when the then deputy prime minister Morarji Desai was visiting Bombay, in the backdrop of the Sena’s demand that the Centre should cede the Marathi-speaking districts of Karnataka to Maharashtra. The violence that followed had claimed the lives of 59 people, cementing Thackeray Senior’s position in the national political scene. It also led to his first arrest.
The iconography of Bal Thackeray atop a vehicle finds resonance among his cadre.The power of the image — seen as a sign of defiance — is so strong among the Sena cadre that it was used by many Sena leaders when the Udhhav Thackeray-led Sena was denied permission by the BMC to hold its annual Dusshera rally at Shivaji Park in 2022.
There was a strong buzz within the Sena cadre that Uddhav would address them from atop a vehicle, if the permission for the speech was not granted. Was it then a mere coincidence that Sena leaders like former Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar were found sharing photos of Bal Thackeray addressing Sena cadre from atop a vehicle, soon after Uddhav gave his speech?
While the iconography clearly resonated with the Sena cadre, it needs to be seen if giving speeches from atop vehicles helps Uddhav gain lost ground in the state.
