They had very little stake in the system but enjoyed complete protection under Thackeray's umbrella. They had little to lose even if they were caught out in criminal activities and so they neither cared nor were encouraged to think for themselves,” the book says.
The author also says that there is a remarkable irony in the fact that Thackeray discouraged higher education among his Marathi supporters and foot soldiers so that they retained their unquestioning minds, never dissented and accepted everything their superiors told them as gospel truth - and, most important, followed even orders that were grossly wrong.
“Because, in many ways, the Sena tiger actually owed the success of his political party to the fair amount of literacy among the Maharashtrian people,” she claims.
