When my father transferred to Mumbai from Bhavnagar, I was admitted in the 4th grade in a state board school in Worli. These were exciting times because I would live in my home state for the first time.
I was mesmerized by this city and everything else around me in a few months. Like most other people in the town, my mind started to look for order and reason amidst the chaos. The first glimpse of leadership I witnessed was the influence of Bal Thackeray and his party Shiv Sena. I would see a lot of men and women around me wearing the party colours with pride. Political opponents would seldom criticize him or the Shiv Sena. In contrast, he would vocally criticize anyone who would cross his path. It was almost natural for me to be in awe of his stature, and everything the party did seemed reasonable.
I don’t want to discuss whether I still subscribe to his or the party’s views in this article (De mortuis nil nisi bonum). Still, the most crucial contribution of Bal Thackeray to my life was to get me interested in politics. That is one of my personality’s most important aspects today.
Bal Thackeray had, with his personality, his booming voice, gift for oratory, political talk bereft of well entrenched political theories and his militant methods succeeded in casting his spell over a wide constituency of Maharashtrian and, for a while, a section of non-Marathi-speaking youth…….
To have attracted almost three generations in this manner has been his political achievement, and to have provoked extreme reactions of hate and unflinching loyalty, a measure of his controversial personality.
Vaibhav Purandare (2012) Bal Thackeray & The Rise Of The Shiv Sena, p47
What you do with the kind of influence Bal Thackeray enjoyed depends on that person. Andrew Heywood’s book ‘Political Ideologies’ helps us understand why priorities and poll promises keep changing throughout the career of most politicians.
He says, ‘Without doubt, all politicians seek power. This forces them to be pragmatic, to adopt those policies and ideas that are electorally popular or win favour with powerful groups such as business or the army. Politicians seldom seek power simply for its own sake. They also possess beliefs, values and convictions about what to do with power when it is achieved. Nevertheless, the balance between pragmatic and ideological considerations varies from politician to politician, and also, in some cases, at different stages in their career.‘
In politics, understanding such leaders and making the best out of them is imperative for the electorate.
Today, if ‘global warming’ becomes ‘the most important issue’ in the voters’ minds, you will see party spokespersons debating carbon footprints and sustainable development. These leaders know what is on our minds or how an issue could be planted. We need to convey to these leaders what we want from them. In the words of Jayprakash Narayan of the Loksatta Party, ‘We need to make ‘collective informed assertions as citizens, using techniques of assertion suited for a democratic society, not Zindabad, Murdabad!‘
Leaders are powerless without the electorate and the karyakarta (party worker). We empower these individuals. The sooner we realize this, the better. A person who existed during our lifetime was talked about, loved, and criticized can influence how we understand or interpret things. In my case, Bal Thackeray and his style of functioning got me interested in politics and helped me understand how it works.
Thanking Bal Thackeray for such engaging lessons on politics.
Mihir Narvilkar 