New Delhi: There were never any half measures about late Bal Thackeray - it was either all or nothing for the man who always knew what he wanted, says a new book which explores the life and times of the enigmatic Shiv Sena founder.
In “Hindu Hriday Samrat: How the Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever”, senior journalist Sujata Anandan provides an insight into how a rather timid man from a modest background was shaped by circumstances and vested interests into a demagogue with the kind of success and following few could dream of.
The author says Thackeray always called a spade a spade, cared little for the sensibilities of others and had absolutely no pretensions about anything, even if what he said made him look rather brutal at times and foolish at others.
However, it was not as though Thackeray was stubborn at all times and never open to change.
“On the contrary, as late playwright Vijay Tendulkar said, since he had no real ideology, he was able to suit his policies to the changing times or his own whims with no difficulty at all.
