Shiv Sena Sainik Marshal John Parkhe
Shiv Sena Sainik Marshal John Parkhe with Balasaheb Thackeray
It was around 1975 that slogans like Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji were heard in our house in Shrirampur. Influenced by one of his school teachers, Marshal, my elder brother, had started playing Lazim with and Dhol Tasha and this had introduced him to Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. I was then still studying in a secondary school. I watched Marshal leaving house early morning to sweat it out at the local municipal council’s gymnasium. There, wearing a Langot, he wrestled with others on the red soil, climbed and did many startling stunts on the Mallakhamb. After coming home, he ate the Chana dal which was soaked in water the previous night. This was all the luxury diet and nutrients he could afford after working it out hard at the gym in the morning and the lazim playing with his friends on the grounds in the evening.
In June 1976, I had left my family almost for good to join the Jesuits, to be a religious priest. A couple of years later when I returned from Goa on a short visit to Shrirampur, I was perplexed to see Marshal in a new Avtar : A red tilak on his forehead and a saffron scarf loosely wrapped around his neck. He had become a fulltime Shiv Sainik, an activist of the Shiv Sena, founded by Bal Thacekary in Mumbai.
The Shiv Sena was originally founded with the professed aim to protect rights of the Mahatrashtrians. Marshal was one of the youngsters responsible for spreading the network of this organisation in Shrirampur and Ahmednagar district in western Maharashtra. Those initial years in Shiv Sena were very exciting for Marshal and his youngster friends in then organisation. Shiv Sena’s Dasara rally in Mumbai was for them an event to look forward and to talk much about during the year. Whenever I came from Goa to visit my family, Marshal and his friends would describe their annual Mumbai Dasara visit. Bal Thackeray had started addressing his Shiv Sainiks at the huge Shivaji Park in Mumbai on the occasion of the Dasara festival. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh used to organise a parade of its volunteers, followed by a rally addressed by the RSS chief in Nagpur, on the occasion of the Dasara festival. But the RSS till then was a non-entity in most parts of Maharashtra. The Dasara rally addressed by Bal Thackeray soon caught the fancy of the firebrand Shiv Sainiks and also the print media.
The effects of the Shiv Sena’s Dasara rally were felt in Mumbai, and other parts of Maharashtra – where the organisation was taking deep roots - a few days before the rally and also few days later. This was because thousands of young Shiv Sainiks from Marathwada and western Maharashtra and neighbouring areas of Mumbai would travel in Mumbai-bound packed train compartments on the eve of the Dasara festival.
It was indeed exciting to listen to Marshal’s descriptions of his and other Shiv Sainiks’ annual Mumbai pilgrimage. The tour was undertaken to listen to and meet their idol, Bal Thackeray who was till then referred to only as Bal Thackeray and also signed as Bal Thackeray in his popular satirical Marathi weekly, Marmik. He was then referred to as Senapati, general of the Shiv Sena cadre, in his weekly which featured many cartoons drawn by Thackeray, who had in the past worked a cartoonist.
“The train bogies are packed with Shiv Sainiks, at each railway station new teams of Shiv Sainiks enter the compartments as the train moves towards Mumbai. Interestingly none of these Shiv Sainiks have train tickets,” Marshal and his companions would narrate their escapade each time after attending the Dasara rally. “And mind you, no TC (ticket collector) of any railway stations will ever dare to enter the over packed compartment to check the tickets,” they whould add with a glee on their faces to indicate how much clout or fear the Shiv Sena had created over the years. There was not much talk about the Dasara rally or the contents of Bal Thackeray’s speech there. The highlight of the Mumbai visit was the personal audience with Thackeray himself at his residence Matoshree a day after the rally. In those days, in 1970s , the Matoshree was not as fortified and out of the reach for commoners as it turned out in later years. Marshal being the founder and also the chief of Shiv Sena unit in Shrirampur and other nearby areas was privileged to have a personal audience with Thackeray. The meeting used to last hardly a few minutes but would suffice to inspire Marshal and other Shiv Sainiks throughout the year until the next Dasara rally.
Those days, it was not easily possible to get photographs of any event or meeting. The photographers even present the site would not oblige as the prints of black and white photographs used to be expensive. Nonetheless during one of such post-Dasara rally meeting, Marshal managed to arrange photographs of his audience with the Shiv Sena supremo. The colour photograph apparently taken in early 1980s became a most prized collection for Marshal. The personal audiences with his idol were the most cherished moments in his life. Later a colour photo of Marshal with a scarf wrapped around his neck reverently felicitating Bal Thackeray hung prominently in the first room of his residence.
A row related to a Marathi play ‘’Ghashiram Kotwal’ written by Vijay Tendular had brought the Shiv Sena at the forefront for the first time all over Maharashtra. The play based on the historical personality of Kashiram Kotwal, a security chief in Pune, during the period of the Peshawa’s minister Nana Fadnavis, was said to be defaming the Brahmin community in Pune. This was for the first time I, then only a higher secondary student, had a serious ideological difference with my elder brother Marshal who defended Shiv Sena’s opposition to Ghanshiram Kotwal. The number of incidents of such differences were soon to increase.
A couple of years later, there was a major controversy involving a chapter from unpublished writings of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. A chapter in these writings, entitled `The Riddles in Ramayana’ caused a major furore in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena strongly objecting to its publication on the ground that it hurt religious sentiments of the Hindus. The Dalits in the state, on the other hand, demanded publication of the controversial chapter. I was quite perturbed and angry with Marshal who had supported the Shiv Sena’s stance.
The renaming of the Aurangabad-based Marathwada University after Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was another issue in which the Shiv Sena cadre and the dalits community in the state fierce fully challenged each other. Passions had ran high during this over a decade-long bitterly fought agitation which saw destruction of properties especially in Marathwada region. But again to my dismay, Marshal’s loyalties were with the Shiv Sena.
Balasaheb Thackeray was the supreme commander for these Shiv Sainiks and they were ready to abide by his diktats unflinchingly. To my chagrin, I experienced this quality in Marshal whenever the Shiv Sena took a stance on various issues. I used to have heated arguments with him as I questioned him how he a Christian of dalit origin could support the Shiv Sena’s aggressive stance on the Ramayana Riddles issue or the Marathawada University renaming row.
During these exchanges, I was always agitated while Marshal, as was his wont, was very calm, composed and smiling as he countered my arguments. “Camil, no, just like Shivaji Maharaj the Saheb (Thackeray) never thinks on the castes lines or communal lines. He has transcended those considerations. And he is also not communal. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, our role model, had the Muslims among his body guards. The Shiv Sena is also not against dalits or Muslims. Just remember, Sabir Shaikh, is Shiv Sena MLA and he is also a close lieutenant of the Saheb...!,” Marshal would brush off my arguments. He seemed to be fully convinced of the arguments he made.
Once I had arrived in Shrirampur to be with my family for the Christmas. I noticed that as usual, a Christmas star was put up on a pole at the house. Colourful rangolis were drawn on the floor which was painted light green with cow dung liquid. Then an unusual object caught my attention. Two meters away from the Christmas star, another pole was erected on the teen roof and a saffron flag was hoisted there ! It was Shiv Sena’s flag !
The sight of the Shiv Sena's saffron flag on our home roof agitated me. Immediately I confronted Dada, my father, who was warming himself under the Sun on that winter morning. Dada merely clasped both his hands and held them near his mouth in total exasperation. I avoided raising the issue with Marshal during that festival season.
After my graduation, I changed my plan to be a Catholic priest and instead joined as a reporter of The Navhind Times in Panjim. My visits to Shrirampur now became less frequent and of shorter durations. Crime and courts which included Goa bench of the Bombay High Court were my beats. After the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984, there were arson and looting in Shrirampur.
During my visits a few months later, Marshal asked me if I could help him revoking an externment notice served to him. I was shell shocked. I had not realised that the things had gone so far. Yes, I was a crime reporter but in Goa. But I could not have a word with police authorities in Ahmednagar district to withdraw preventive measures against Marshal.
“Why don’t you speak to Shiv Sena’s Ahmednagar MLA Anil Rathod? He must be knowing you personally,” I said to him. To this, Marshal just smiled wryly. Later a common friend told me that Marshal and the MLA knew each other well.
Being in Goa, I rarely had any information about Marshal’s activities. On a short visit to Shrirampur, Bai, my mother, would sometimes broach the topic with tears in her eyes. Dada, my father would on such occasions would observe a stoic silence – a gesture sharing my mother’s sentiments.
One such narration by mother shook me totally. She said, “That night past 2 pm, there were loud thumping on both the front and rear doors.. The police had come knocking once again...They barged into the house, wielding lathis, and pulling up blankets to check faces of all those who were sleeping in the four rooms in the house. Some children who got up started crying..The police searched everywhere even under the iron beds but could not find Marshal..”
“As the police personnel were leaving, the Faujdar Saheb turned to your father, saying..”Parkhe tailor, I’m sorry you have to face this ordeal.. But we were tipped that Marshal had come home tonight.. We’ll come some other time to nab him.”
“Nearly two hours and just before the dawn, after the police had left, Marshal who was hiding behind the sacks of the cowdung cakes and other firewood materials came out trembling and disappeared again for a few days,” mother finished her narration as she again started sobbing. Later speaking to Bai, I learnt that Marshal had made quite a few trips to jail. Speaking to his friends, I learnt that the criminal cases lodged against him included unlawful assembly, trespassing, exertion, preventing a government servants from carrying out their duties. These were also the cases lodged against a large number of activists of the Dalit Panther in early 1970s in Mumbai. The court summons and mandatory visits to police stations can break a person mentally and financially howsoever strong he may claim to be. Marshal who had no regular source of income however continued to be active in the Shiv Sena.
When it was founded in 1967, the Shiv Sena was purely a social organisation, founded with a mission to protect rights of the Maharshtrians in Mumbai. South Indians in Mumbai were most often targets of the Shiv Sena attacks. Later the organisation entered into the electoral politics in Mumbai and its two leaders, Manohar Joshi and Chhagan Bhujbal, were elected as Mumbai mayor and later also got elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. There was now a change in Shiv Sena’s policy – now it decided to be 60 percent active in social field and 40 percent active in politics.
This change naturally convinced Marshal to join the electoral politics. He contested elections to Shrirampur Municipal Corporation as a general category Shiv Sena candidate. I was in Shrirampur when the poll campaign was on. I remember giving Rs 300 to Marshal for tea and snacks of the Shiv Sainiks who moved along with him. But as a Christian and bearing a name Marshal John Parkhe he could not get votes of the majority castes voters and managed to win less than two digits votes. But he did not give up. He contested the next municipal council elections from the ward surroundings the St Luke’s Hospital and the Catholic church campus – the area had a majority of Christian voters.
Approaching Christian community for votes too however did not help Marshal. He was candidate of Shiv Sena – a party which had now openly adopted the Hindu plank. Thus, even Christians rejected Marshal in the elections and he secured lesser than his earlier votes. Marshal realised that electoral politics was not his forte.
Marshal tried to do some business and was never successful. He was never financially settled and this caused immense hardships to his family. Those with whom he had worked in Shiv Sena later were elected to municipal councils and also to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. But I never heard Marshal approaching any of them for any kinds of help.
Fifteen years ago, Marshal died after a prolonged illness. On the 40th memorial day, we prayed at his grave and as is the custom, meal was served for all guests at a small pandal erected at his residence. The colour photo of Marshal greeting Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray put up in his home attracted attention of all. As we sat for the meals, the saffron flag hoisted at his residence caught my attention. The flag which was hoisted some years back had totally faded and its original colour was beyond recognition.
The Shiv Sena celebrates its foundation anniversary on June 19...
It was around 1975 that slogans like Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji were heard in our house in Shrirampur. Influenced by one of his school teachers, Marshal, my elder brother, had started playing Lazim with and Dhol Tasha and this had introduced him to Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. I was then still studying in a secondary school. I watched Marshal leaving house early morning to sweat it out at the local municipal council’s gymnasium. There, wearing a Langot, he wrestled with others on the red soil, climbed and did many startling stunts on the Mallakhamb. After coming home, he ate the Chana dal which was soaked in water the previous night. This was all the luxury diet and nutrients he could afford after working it out hard at the gym in the morning and the lazim playing with his friends on the grounds in the evening.
In June 1976, I had left my family almost for good to join the Jesuits, to be a religious priest. A couple of years later when I returned from Goa on a short visit to Shrirampur, I was perplexed to see Marshal in a new Avtar : A red tilak on his forehead and a saffron scarf loosely wrapped around his neck. He had become a fulltime Shiv Sainik, an activist of the Shiv Sena, founded by Bal Thacekary in Mumbai.
The Shiv Sena was originally founded with the professed aim to protect rights of the Mahatrashtrians. Marshal was one of the youngsters responsible for spreading the network of this organisation in Shrirampur and Ahmednagar district in western Maharashtra. Those initial years in Shiv Sena were very exciting for Marshal and his youngster friends in then organisation. Shiv Sena’s Dasara rally in Mumbai was for them an event to look forward and to talk much about during the year. Whenever I came from Goa to visit my family, Marshal and his friends would describe their annual Mumbai Dasara visit. Bal Thackeray had started addressing his Shiv Sainiks at the huge Shivaji Park in Mumbai on the occasion of the Dasara festival. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh used to organise a parade of its volunteers, followed by a rally addressed by the RSS chief in Nagpur, on the occasion of the Dasara festival. But the RSS till then was a non-entity in most parts of Maharashtra. The Dasara rally addressed by Bal Thackeray soon caught the fancy of the firebrand Shiv Sainiks and also the print media.
The effects of the Shiv Sena’s Dasara rally were felt in Mumbai, and other parts of Maharashtra – where the organisation was taking deep roots - a few days before the rally and also few days later. This was because thousands of young Shiv Sainiks from Marathwada and western Maharashtra and neighbouring areas of Mumbai would travel in Mumbai-bound packed train compartments on the eve of the Dasara festival.
It was indeed exciting to listen to Marshal’s descriptions of his and other Shiv Sainiks’ annual Mumbai pilgrimage. The tour was undertaken to listen to and meet their idol, Bal Thackeray who was till then referred to only as Bal Thackeray and also signed as Bal Thackeray in his popular satirical Marathi weekly, Marmik. He was then referred to as Senapati, general of the Shiv Sena cadre, in his weekly which featured many cartoons drawn by Thackeray, who had in the past worked a cartoonist.
“The train bogies are packed with Shiv Sainiks, at each railway station new teams of Shiv Sainiks enter the compartments as the train moves towards Mumbai. Interestingly none of these Shiv Sainiks have train tickets,” Marshal and his companions would narrate their escapade each time after attending the Dasara rally. “And mind you, no TC (ticket collector) of any railway stations will ever dare to enter the over packed compartment to check the tickets,” they whould add with a glee on their faces to indicate how much clout or fear the Shiv Sena had created over the years. There was not much talk about the Dasara rally or the contents of Bal Thackeray’s speech there. The highlight of the Mumbai visit was the personal audience with Thackeray himself at his residence Matoshree a day after the rally. In those days, in 1970s , the Matoshree was not as fortified and out of the reach for commoners as it turned out in later years. Marshal being the founder and also the chief of Shiv Sena unit in Shrirampur and other nearby areas was privileged to have a personal audience with Thackeray. The meeting used to last hardly a few minutes but would suffice to inspire Marshal and other Shiv Sainiks throughout the year until the next Dasara rally.
Those days, it was not easily possible to get photographs of any event or meeting. The photographers even present the site would not oblige as the prints of black and white photographs used to be expensive. Nonetheless during one of such post-Dasara rally meeting, Marshal managed to arrange photographs of his audience with the Shiv Sena supremo. The colour photograph apparently taken in early 1980s became a most prized collection for Marshal. The personal audiences with his idol were the most cherished moments in his life. Later a colour photo of Marshal with a scarf wrapped around his neck reverently felicitating Bal Thackeray hung prominently in the first room of his residence.
A row related to a Marathi play ‘’Ghashiram Kotwal’ written by Vijay Tendular had brought the Shiv Sena at the forefront for the first time all over Maharashtra. The play based on the historical personality of Kashiram Kotwal, a security chief in Pune, during the period of the Peshawa’s minister Nana Fadnavis, was said to be defaming the Brahmin community in Pune. This was for the first time I, then only a higher secondary student, had a serious ideological difference with my elder brother Marshal who defended Shiv Sena’s opposition to Ghanshiram Kotwal. The number of incidents of such differences were soon to increase.
A couple of years later, there was a major controversy involving a chapter from unpublished writings of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. A chapter in these writings, entitled `The Riddles in Ramayana’ caused a major furore in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena strongly objecting to its publication on the ground that it hurt religious sentiments of the Hindus. The Dalits in the state, on the other hand, demanded publication of the controversial chapter. I was quite perturbed and angry with Marshal who had supported the Shiv Sena’s stance.
The renaming of the Aurangabad-based Marathwada University after Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was another issue in which the Shiv Sena cadre and the dalits community in the state fierce fully challenged each other. Passions had ran high during this over a decade-long bitterly fought agitation which saw destruction of properties especially in Marathwada region. But again to my dismay, Marshal’s loyalties were with the Shiv Sena.
Balasaheb Thackeray was the supreme commander for these Shiv Sainiks and they were ready to abide by his diktats unflinchingly. To my chagrin, I experienced this quality in Marshal whenever the Shiv Sena took a stance on various issues. I used to have heated arguments with him as I questioned him how he a Christian of dalit origin could support the Shiv Sena’s aggressive stance on the Ramayana Riddles issue or the Marathawada University renaming row.
During these exchanges, I was always agitated while Marshal, as was his wont, was very calm, composed and smiling as he countered my arguments. “Camil, no, just like Shivaji Maharaj the Saheb (Thackeray) never thinks on the castes lines or communal lines. He has transcended those considerations. And he is also not communal. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, our role model, had the Muslims among his body guards. The Shiv Sena is also not against dalits or Muslims. Just remember, Sabir Shaikh, is Shiv Sena MLA and he is also a close lieutenant of the Saheb...!,” Marshal would brush off my arguments. He seemed to be fully convinced of the arguments he made.
Once I had arrived in Shrirampur to be with my family for the Christmas. I noticed that as usual, a Christmas star was put up on a pole at the house. Colourful rangolis were drawn on the floor which was painted light green with cow dung liquid. Then an unusual object caught my attention. Two meters away from the Christmas star, another pole was erected on the teen roof and a saffron flag was hoisted there ! It was Shiv Sena’s flag !
The sight of the Shiv Sena's saffron flag on our home roof agitated me. Immediately I confronted Dada, my father, who was warming himself under the Sun on that winter morning. Dada merely clasped both his hands and held them near his mouth in total exasperation. I avoided raising the issue with Marshal during that festival season.
After my graduation, I changed my plan to be a Catholic priest and instead joined as a reporter of The Navhind Times in Panjim. My visits to Shrirampur now became less frequent and of shorter durations. Crime and courts which included Goa bench of the Bombay High Court were my beats. After the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984, there were arson and looting in Shrirampur.
During my visits a few months later, Marshal asked me if I could help him revoking an externment notice served to him. I was shell shocked. I had not realised that the things had gone so far. Yes, I was a crime reporter but in Goa. But I could not have a word with police authorities in Ahmednagar district to withdraw preventive measures against Marshal.
“Why don’t you speak to Shiv Sena’s Ahmednagar MLA Anil Rathod? He must be knowing you personally,” I said to him. To this, Marshal just smiled wryly. Later a common friend told me that Marshal and the MLA knew each other well.
Being in Goa, I rarely had any information about Marshal’s activities. On a short visit to Shrirampur, Bai, my mother, would sometimes broach the topic with tears in her eyes. Dada, my father would on such occasions would observe a stoic silence – a gesture sharing my mother’s sentiments.
One such narration by mother shook me totally. She said, “That night past 2 pm, there were loud thumping on both the front and rear doors.. The police had come knocking once again...They barged into the house, wielding lathis, and pulling up blankets to check faces of all those who were sleeping in the four rooms in the house. Some children who got up started crying..The police searched everywhere even under the iron beds but could not find Marshal..”
“As the police personnel were leaving, the Faujdar Saheb turned to your father, saying..”Parkhe tailor, I’m sorry you have to face this ordeal.. But we were tipped that Marshal had come home tonight.. We’ll come some other time to nab him.”
“Nearly two hours and just before the dawn, after the police had left, Marshal who was hiding behind the sacks of the cowdung cakes and other firewood materials came out trembling and disappeared again for a few days,” mother finished her narration as she again started sobbing. Later speaking to Bai, I learnt that Marshal had made quite a few trips to jail. Speaking to his friends, I learnt that the criminal cases lodged against him included unlawful assembly, trespassing, exertion, preventing a government servants from carrying out their duties. These were also the cases lodged against a large number of activists of the Dalit Panther in early 1970s in Mumbai. The court summons and mandatory visits to police stations can break a person mentally and financially howsoever strong he may claim to be. Marshal who had no regular source of income however continued to be active in the Shiv Sena.
When it was founded in 1967, the Shiv Sena was purely a social organisation, founded with a mission to protect rights of the Maharshtrians in Mumbai. South Indians in Mumbai were most often targets of the Shiv Sena attacks. Later the organisation entered into the electoral politics in Mumbai and its two leaders, Manohar Joshi and Chhagan Bhujbal, were elected as Mumbai mayor and later also got elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. There was now a change in Shiv Sena’s policy – now it decided to be 60 percent active in social field and 40 percent active in politics.
This change naturally convinced Marshal to join the electoral politics. He contested elections to Shrirampur Municipal Corporation as a general category Shiv Sena candidate. I was in Shrirampur when the poll campaign was on. I remember giving Rs 300 to Marshal for tea and snacks of the Shiv Sainiks who moved along with him. But as a Christian and bearing a name Marshal John Parkhe he could not get votes of the majority castes voters and managed to win less than two digits votes. But he did not give up. He contested the next municipal council elections from the ward surroundings the St Luke’s Hospital and the Catholic church campus – the area had a majority of Christian voters.
Approaching Christian community for votes too however did not help Marshal. He was candidate of Shiv Sena – a party which had now openly adopted the Hindu plank. Thus, even Christians rejected Marshal in the elections and he secured lesser than his earlier votes. Marshal realised that electoral politics was not his forte.
Marshal tried to do some business and was never successful. He was never financially settled and this caused immense hardships to his family. Those with whom he had worked in Shiv Sena later were elected to municipal councils and also to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. But I never heard Marshal approaching any of them for any kinds of help.
Fifteen years ago, Marshal died after a prolonged illness. On the 40th memorial day, we prayed at his grave and as is the custom, meal was served for all guests at a small pandal erected at his residence. The colour photo of Marshal greeting Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray put up in his home attracted attention of all. As we sat for the meals, the saffron flag hoisted at his residence caught my attention. The flag which was hoisted some years back had totally faded and its original colour was beyond recognition.
The Shiv Sena celebrates its foundation anniversary on June 19...
Comments
Post a Comment