BAL THACKERAY RAY

January 23, 1926 6

“You know,” Bal Thack ke was fond of saying, “I don’t want to draw an parallels. But just like Hitler was also a paint t Well, yes and no. Hitle er painted in his spare ti me Bal Thackeray started d out as a - toonist with Bombay’s Free Press Journal. But the parallels Thackeray alluded to went beyond art: both believed in ethnic politics, both believed in joy through strength and both were absolute dictators. Small wonder then that Thackeray admired Hitler. (”OK, now with the Jews, he may have gone too far…” was his only criticism). And yet this Hitler-loving cartoonist was a key player in Maharashtra politics for several decades. He tapped into a resentment that Maharashtrians felt against non-Maharashtrians in Bombay (Thackeray had it renamed Mumbai), changed the character of India’s commercial capital forever, made violence an integral part of state politics and created the template for other parties founded on ethnic resentment. His influence will linger over India: unlike Hitler, he died a hero!