kingmaker Bala Saheb Thackeray passes away;

The year was 1996. Cartoonist Prashant Kulkarni was interviewing a political figure. Even before the conversation started, Prashant was told that the cartoon of Broken Arrow made by him was good. Well, now let’s talk about the cartoon itself. Actually, the person who praised was also a cartoonist and his name was Balasaheb Thackeray.

This incident is very special because the cartoon of Prashant which was praised had a lot of political importance at that time. Actually, the dead body of Ramesh Kini was found in Alka Theater in Pune and at that time he was watching the English film Broken Arrow in the theatre. Bal Thackeray’s nephew Raj Thackeray was being accused of this murder and it became very popular. Prashant had shown blood dripping from the tip of a broken arrow in his cartoon. It was written with it – Broken Arrow – Disturbing horror cinema. The election symbol of Shiv Sena is also bow and arrow. It is clear that Prashant’s cartoon was a direct attack on Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray expressed his views on it boldly. Bal Thackeray, who lived his life with such impunity, breathed his last on 17 November 2012.

The story of Bal Thackeray, who worked with famous cartoonist RK Laxman in the Free Press Journal in 1950, is the story of a king maker. Thackeray’s cartoons were published in the Sunday edition of ‘The Asahi Shimbun’, a daily newspaper in Japan, and ‘The New York Times’. His political stature can be gauged from the fact that the entire Mumbai was shut down after his death. More than 2 lakh people participated in the last journey. Bal Thackeray was born on 23 January 1926 in Pune, Maharashtra. Eldest among 9 siblings. After marriage with Meenatai Thackeray, she had three sons – Bindumadhav Thackeray, Jaidev Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray. Uddhav is today the Chief Minister in the Shiv Sena-led coalition government in Maharashtra.