Chief Minister of Maharashtra and President of Shiv Sena
NAME: Uddhav Bal Thackeray
PROFESSION: Politician, Author
BORN: 27 July, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH: Mumbai, Maharashtra
FATHER’S NAME: Bal Thackeray (Politician, Founder of Shiv Sena)
MOTHER’S NAME: Meena Thackeray
SPOUSE: Rashmi Thackeray (Editor of Saamana and Marmik)
SIBLINGS: 2 elder brothers (Bindumadhav Thackeray, Jaidev Thackeray)
CHILDREN: 2 sons (Aditya Thackeray and Tejas Thackeray)
EDUCATION: Graduated from Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art with photography
POLITICAL PARTY: Shiv Sena
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: contact@shivsena.org
REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT: After entering Shiv Sena, Mr. Uddhav Thackeray had organised a debt relief campaign for the farmers of Vidarbha district of Maharashtra as the farmers were under heavy debt due to drought which led to his rise in farmers’ suicide rates.
He helped in improving the conditions of the same. He also helped transform their political party from a vicious one to a well organised and more resilient unit.
AWARDS: He was able to make a mark at the Geniuses Book of World Record for the social work done by him along with his party.
BACKGROUND: Uddhav Thackeray was born in a politician family. He was the youngest son of Bal Thackeray, his father and Meena Thackeray, his mother. His father was also a politician, who founded “Shiv Sena”in 1966.
His elder brother, Bindumadhav, died in a car accident in 1995. In 1988, he married to Rashmi Thackeray, a daughter of Madhav Patankar, a businessman. Rashmi is an editor of Saamana and Marmik.
Thackeray’s elder son, Aditya Thackeray, is the president of Yuva Sena and also a Cabinet Minister of Tourism and Environment Government of Maharashtra. His younger son, Tejas is a wildlife researcher.
UPBRINGING & EDUCATION:
He did his alma mater from Balmohan Vidyamandir and then pursued graduation from Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art in photography as his main subject. As he had interest in photography, in 2004, he exhibited his collections of forts of Maharashtra at the Jehangir Art Gallery.
POLITICAL CAREER: Uddhav Thackeray wanted to become a photographer. He started his political career in 2002, when he became the election campaign in charge of Shiv Sena in BMMC.
Soon he was appointed as the working president of the party along with being the chief editor of Saamana in 2006. After the death of his father, he became the president of Shiv Sena in 2013.
In 2014, Shiv Sena joined the NDA government in Maharashtra. In the year of 2019, he was elected as the 19th C.M. of Maharashtra, due to which he resigned his post in Saamana as editor-in-chief.
MAJOR INITIATIVES TAKEN: Under the leadership of Mr. Uddhav Thackeray had started testing and treatment centres for Malaria and had distributed medicines to the needy. Various hospitals have been constructed to meet the need of health services in Mumbai.
POSITION HELD: 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, November, 2019
Member of Maharashtra Legislative Council, 2020
President of Shiv Sena, 2013
Working President of Shiv Sena, (2003-2013)
President of Maha Vikas Aghadi, 2019
Editor-in-chief of Saamana, (2006-2019)
CONTROVERSIES: Uddhav has been a part of many controversies, he had threatened to physically attack Sanjay Nirupam (a Congress leader) by saying – “I dare Nirupam to carry out his threat…if he tries to disrupt activities in Mumbai I will break his teeth” when Nirupam in addressing a public rally said “North Indians could bring Mumbai to a halt if they chose to.”
Furthermore, recently he was criticised for the migrants Maharashtra during the pandemic, for mismanagement of the state to control the spread of the pandemic under the Epidemic Act.
He was also involved in a controversy when he compared the police action at Jamia Millia Islamia campus to the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
BOOKS WRITTEN: Maharashtra Desh (2010); Pahava Vitthal (2011) are the photo books published by him.