Not being able to meet Bal Thackeray was more painful than quitting Shiv Sena: MNS president Raj

In a tribute in 'Saamana', the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece, to mark the Sena patriarch's centenary, Raj recalled his deep-seated bond with his uncle Balasaheb Thackeray.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray has said that not being able to meet Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray frequently after quitting the party was more painful than leaving the fold itself, describing his late uncle as a mountain who stood behind him.

In a tribute in 'Saamana', the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece, to mark the Sena patriarch's centenary, Raj recalled his deep-seated bond with his uncle, noting that the personal loss of leaving the family home, ‘Matoshri’, outweighed the consequences of his 2005 exit.

Raj wrote that in 1991, when he headed the undivided Shiv Sena's student wing, which took out a morcha in Kala Ghoda, Bal Thackeray heard his speech through a public landline phone.

The MNS chief also reminisced that when he suffered burn injuries as a child, his uncle had tended to his wounds, cleaning them with antiseptic for two months.

"When I decided to part ways (with the undivided Shiv Sena), one thing which bothered me was that I wouldn't be able to meet my people frequently like before. I had lost my father, and I was now going far away from my uncle. The thought was eating me up. More than quitting the party, leaving the house (Matoshri) was more painful," Raj said in his article.

Raj, who quit the undivided Shiv Sena in 2005 after blaming his cousin Uddhav, formed the MNS a year later.

"My uncle, Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray, had an overwhelming influence on my childhood and adulthood. He stood behind like a mountain," he wrote.

He also recalled that Bal Thackeray had once called up to check on him after a truck nearly hit the vehicle he was travelling in.

Recalling fond memories of his uncle's habits, Raj said that though Bal Thackeray opposed Pakistan, he never stopped listening to the ghazals of Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali.

He also recalled that actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor had asked the Sena supremo to suggest parts that needed to be edited in the 1970 film 'Mera Naam Joker', which the latter considered pro-communist, at a time when the undivided Shiv Sena and the communists in the city were arch rivals.

Raj said Bal Thackeray had also resolved the problem of negative publicity for legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan and his brother Ajitabh, who were under fire during the "Bofors" scam, after the duo met him.

The Shiv Sena founder suggested Bachchan write to then prime minister V P Singh, and their letter helped ebb the negative publicity, he claimed.