*Shiv Sena is Marathi regional and Hindu nationalist political organization in India founded on 19 June 1966 by political cartoonist Bal Thackery. The party originally emerged from a movement in Bombay(present-day Mumbai) demanding preferential treatment for Maharashtrians over migrants to the city.
*In the 1970s, it gradually moved from advocating a pro-Marathi ideology to one supporting a broader Hindu Nationalist agenda as it aligned itself with the Bhartiya Janta Party.
*The party is accused of orchestrating several riots in Maharashtra including the 1992 violence in Mumbai. Its founder Bala Sahab Thackery is attributed to saying, “Pro Pak Mohammedans are cancer in India. I want to throw them out.”
*Shiv Sena has been involved in several acts of vandalism across Maharashtra. It was in news for disrupting India- Pakistan’s cricket match, beating up migrant workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, not allowing couples to celebrate Valentine’s Day, most recently its workers vandalized an insurance office in Pune on 5th November 2019. Its Party founder BAL Thackery died in 2012.
* Uddhav Thackeray’s, ascension to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra will also see the first Sainik as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
