Bal Keshav Thackeray was popularly known as Balasaheb Thackeray. He was the eldest of eight siblings. Country's top politicians and celebrities used to visit Balasaheb at his residence 'Matoshree' in Bandra. The then biggest pop music star, Michael Jackson had also visited Balsaheb Thackeray when he came to Mumbai for an event.
Balasaheb Thackeray worked as a cartoonist before entering politics. He used to make cartoons for an English newspaper. It is said that Balasaheb's cartoons used sarcasm on the contemporary issues of the country and the politics of that time.
It is said that Balasaheb started his weekly magazine 'Marmik' on August 13, 1960, in which he raised many social issues and about non-Marathis. Balasaheb Thackeray focused the magazine's content on the hardships of the Marathi common man. He wrote about unemployment and the influx of migrants into Maharashtra.
Bal Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966. Two years later, in 1968, he got Shiv Sena registered as a political party. Shiv Sena fielded its own candidates for the first time in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections.
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