Shiv Sena

History

Shiv Sena was founded by Bal Keshav Thackeray in Mumbai on 19 June 1966. The party emerged around political and social issues concerning Marathi-speaking people in Maharashtra, particularly questions of employment, cultural identity and political representation. During its early years, Shiv Sena developed a strong organizational presence in Mumbai and gradually expanded across Maharashtra. The party became an important participant in state politics and later incorporated Hindutva and wider national political issues into its political agenda. Shiv Sena developed a long-standing political alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the 1995 Maharashtra Assembly election, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance formed the state government, with Manohar Joshi becoming Chief Minister. The party continued to participate in Maharashtra politics and national coalition politics. Bal Thackeray remained the party's principal leader until his death in 2012. Following the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election, Shiv Sena entered into an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party and Indian National Congress, forming the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Uddhav Thackeray became Chief Minister of Maharashtra in November 2019. In 2022, a major political split took place within Shiv Sena. Eknath Shinde led a group of MLAs that separated from the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction. Shinde subsequently became Chief Minister of Maharashtra. In February 2023, the Election Commission of India recognized the Eknath Shinde-led faction as Shiv Sena and assigned it the party's traditional Bow and Arrow election symbol. The Uddhav Thackeray-led organization was recognized separately as Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). The Election Commission continues to list both as separate state parties in Maharashtra.