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The Rise and rise of Shiv Sena :
Mumbai Congress leader Ramkrishna Bajaj (Uncle of Rahul Bajaj) was the reason why Thackerays became Kings of Mumbai.
On behest of Bajaj and constant anti-communist stand for a decade, Thackeray set up the Shiv Sena.
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Mumbai Congress leader Ramkrishna Bajaj (Uncle of Rahul Bajaj) was the reason why Thackerays became Kings of Mumbai.
On behest of Bajaj and constant anti-communist stand for a decade, Thackeray set up the Shiv Sena.
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Congress-sponsored unions could not woo workers from the Left, whose unions could bring the city to a halt with one call to strike.The Communists soon realised they had a formidable opponent in Thackeray when Sena married the Marathi manoos sentiment to the workers’ woes
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Post its formation in 1966, Thackeray tapped into the emotions of the middle-class poor Maharashtrians, against non-Marathi speakers aka ‘outsiders’. These outsiders were better educated,earned more and could afford to buy homes in Mumbai,which the marathi manoos could not.
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These settlers were both white-collared workers and peers in the textile mills. The Marathi manoos sentiment unglued their bonding with other workers and they began to swing towards the Kamgar Sena set up to address these workers’ woes walking into Thackeray's trap.
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At one of Thackeray’s earliest rallies at Jamboree Maidan Worli,the Communists allegedly planned an attack on him.His advisors caught on. They could not arrange proper police bandobast but formed a human shield round their leader & delivered him safely to his home in Dadar.
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This move brought hatred into a game which until then had been one of political one-upmanship. Thackeray never forgave the Communists and with help from the Congress governments went systematically for their jugular.
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A popular Communist leader from Parel, Krishna Desai, was killed in cold blood on 5th June 1970 under the eye of Thackeray. One of the sena karyakarta bore the brunt and served a short sentence.The Congress government turned a blind eye and let the culprit out in the open.
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Congress even supported the Shiv Sena at the by-election that followed and helped the Sena win its first seat to the Assembly against Desai’s widow in Parel.
By the 1970s, the core Left areas of central Mumbai had gone to the Kamgar Sena.
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By the 1970s, the core Left areas of central Mumbai had gone to the Kamgar Sena.
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A bulk of the Sena support comes from these areas even today. The Congress’s and the industries' problems entered a new era. Mumbai could still be halted. But the person had changed. Communists had disappeared. Thackeray ensured their heads stayed off. Forever.
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