By Vinita DeshmukhIt is not easy to write a book on Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, without mincing words on his politics that was punctuated with hatred, violence, religion and aggression. For the common man in Maharashtra, Balasaheb and his Shiv Sena connote terror. So, to say anything bluntly about either of them is like inviting an assault on oneself- Or so, is the general perception.It is against this background, that, senior journalist Sujata Anandan’s recently released book `Hindu Hruday Samrat- How the Shiv Sena changed Mumbai forever’ should be applauded. In her 279 pages of free, frank and fearless depiction of the most feared man - Balasaheb Thackeray - she has left no stone unturned in scripting meticulous details of his near five decade explosive political journey.Balasaheb Thackeray who transformed the Shiv Sena from a social-cultural outfit to a political party in the 1960s and was a roaring tiger to Maharashtrians particularly in Mumbai (who seemed to have paradoxically lost their local identity in their city after it became a part of Maharashtra) was actually a man who feared for himself, of being attacked and being jailed. This would definitely be an eye-opener for many a blind follower of Thackeray, who look up to him as the valiant hero.Sujata Anandan, writes: ``…But if there was one emotion that truly defined the Sena tiger, it was fear – not exactly the fear he instilled among various sections of the people over four decades, but fear for his life. And at the root of that fear was the alleged communist conspiracy of the 1960s to `assassinate’ this man who was perhaps never destined for greatness but had that greatness thrust upon him, almost against his will..His second fear was that of being jailed. Says the author. ``the fear of being jailed again is the second consistent emotion that Thackeray experienced over the years. While he might have said all sorts of outrageous things about friends and foes, fellow politicians, prime ministers and presidents, the one fraternity that Thackeray truly feared was the judiciary. ‘’Thackeray had spent three months in jail in 1969, after his Shiv Sainiks had attacked the convoy of the then deputy prime minister Morarji Desai in Mumbai and had destroyed public property.’’ Madhav Deshpande, his trusted colleague has been quoted thus: ``All he ever was, was a billi (cat). We put a magnifying glass between him and the people. They thought they were seeing a tiger. But behind the glass, he remained a pussycat throughout.’’The book has portrayed how Thackeray used violence against his opponents through a large fraternity of teenagers and youngsters from the under-privileged class who were hypnotized with his pro-Maharashtrian, anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan, Hindutva stand and were willing to give their blood for him, at any given hour, with no questions asked. They stood by him through his tumultuous journey of picking up a relevant campaign that would make the Shiv Sena bounce back from irrelevance, even if it mean destruction of public property and killing of people. Shiv Sena, says the author, perpetually suffered from intellectual bankruptcy and so relied on muscle power of his karyakartas who indulged in extortion, violence and killings. It is shocking to know that Thackeray deliberately kept his young followers from being educated, lest he loses his formidable battalion and in turn loses his own political identity. While, along his journey, he lost stalwart leader like Chhagan Bhujbal and Ramrao Adik who defected to other parties, his young flock swore unflinching loyalty to him.One of the chapters gives a comparison of how two youngsters, one of who got out of a chawl where anyone who spoke English was threatened,, pursued his education to become a professional and now lives in a upper middle class neighbourhood while the other, who, held loyally to the Shiv Sena, continues to lead a lower middle class life, still continuing to sell milk packets. Excerpt: ``…an overwhelming majority of Shiv Sainiks were unable to reach white collar heights because they were only taught to snatch and grab whatever they could through fear or favour.’’The Mumbai of the 1990s particularly witnessed the most brazen form of extortion of the Shiv Sainiks from builders, patients, doctors, chartered accountants and other professionals, leading to the builder fraternity coming out in the public to protest, which led to Thackeray directing his men to refrain from this crime.Thackeray’s insinuation that led to the communal riots of the 1980s and early 1990s has also been well scripted. The most heart-wrenching chapter of the book is one which portrays how the minds of the youngsters were inflamed through Thackeray’s editorials in his daily newspaper, Samna because of which they allegedly indulged in horrendous violence during the 1992-93 Bhiwandi riots. It talks of a Muslim `chacha’ (uncle) who delivered pav and eggs door-to-door particularly during these riots when people could not move out of the house.The Chacha was a household name especially for a man called `Surve’ (name changed). who, since childhood was sent to him by his mother to buy the edibles. However, he confesses that he soon became convinced that the minority community is a bad one. This excerpt narrates the dangerous psyche of youngsters: ``…Chacha, who was a permanent fixture in Surve’s life, felt so safe among his regular customers that he decided to deliver supplies to their homes even during the riots, knowing that shops were shut and his regular customers might have to go without bread or milk for days on end. It is a testimony to the level of indoctrination among children belonging to Maharashtrian families supporting the Shiv Sena at the time that Surve soon found himself in a gang of youngsters actively rioting on the streets.``When Chacha, whom they had all known since their childhood, came around to deliver eggs and pau to their homes, they knocked him off his bicycle and set him on fire. Surve was on the fringes of that crowd but he did little to save the harmless old man, who had done nothing but good to them over the years. ‘’The book is a comprehensive chronicle of the rise and fall of Shiv Sena. It is narrated in a simple and matter-of-fact style, without taking any extreme positions. Sujata, along the way has also praised Thackeray for getting his campaign for jobs for Maharashtrians executed in real life, with 80% of jobs for them, thus rendering Raj Thackeray’s campaign irrelevant by the time he formed his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in 2006. An excerpt: ``Thus in the first decade of the twenty-first century, it is not surprising that Raj Thackeray should be chagrined at running out of steam sooner than he would have thought possible.. When he decided to fall back on his uncle’s 1960s position against the South Indians in clerical jobs, modifying it suitably to target north Indians who are in even lower level jobs in the state (rather undesired by Maharashtrians today) he discovered that nearly 80 percent of jobs in various sectors were already taken by Maharashtrians. This was his uncle’s achievement.’’ It also tells you the real story behind Raj Thackeray walking out of the Shiv Sena and how the Shiv Sena in its present form is lack-lustre.The book narrates the series of local, state and general elections and the Shiv Sena’s ups and downs and more importantly, how it was time and again propped/supported by the Congress. Pawar tells the author that Thackeray was a dear personal friend and a magnanimous opponent!The book reveals the changing stance of Thackeray in many issues for political gains – the most prominent being his support to Indira Gandhi for her declaration of Emergency, which weaned many an educated Maharashtrian away from Shiv Sena. Similarly, his flip-flops on his attitude towards Muslims and Pakistan amongst other issues, have also been penned effectively, for posterity.Supporters of Shiv Sena would be distressed to know that noted journalist Aroon Tikekar has elaborated in an interview to the author that, the birth of Shiv Sena, besides the humiliating defeat in the Battle of Panipat in 1761 and assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse, are three `unlucky’ events in the history of Maharashtra that have ``set us back by twenty five years each time.’That, Thackeray’s grand daughter, (from his son Bindumadhav who was killed in a car crash in the 1990s) got married to a Muslim without any condemnation by the family and the fact that his personal physician in his last days was a Muslim speaks of his double nature and duplicity in his Hindu militant stance.Sujata Anandan, who has covered Shiv Sena for over two decades and was much liked by Thackeray for her incisive journalism, when asked by friends ``what will you do without Bal Thackeray as your source for your stories and newsbreaks?’, replies, ``I now have an answer. I would write a book.’’ And indeed she wrote one - that would remain a credible and insightful reference book, on the history and culture of the Shiv Sena, for the future generations.Vinita Deshmukh is a senior Journalist, RTI columnist & activist.