SHIV SENA 25 Emergence of the Organisation When the Shiv Sena was started in 1966 it centred mainly around Bal Thackeray (the Sena Pramukh or chief of the Shiv Sena) which, to a great extent, it does even today with the modification that there are certain officials now who look after specific branches and activities of the Shiv Sena. After his first public meeting on 31 October 1966, Bal Thackeray was besieged by his wellwishers and sympathizers to set up the Shiv Sena in an organized manner right away. Most of them wanted to participate in the Shiv Sena actively so as to voice their discontent with their lot. The effect was sudden, forceful and unexpected.12 The Shiv Sena was not preceded by an organized structure. It was purely an individual effort of Bal Thackeray and his few close friends. Since Thackeray was at one time a member of the .Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the first model that came to his mind was that of the RSS. He asked his supporters to open shakhas (branches) and his associates went round propagating this line of action. What form these shakhas should take, where they should be set up and what functions they should perform were left unspecified. Further, in this period neither Thackeray nor his associates knew anything about those whom they were asking to start the shakhas13. Gradually, names of people popular in certain areas were brought to their notice, and Thackeray, with his friends, went round and contacted them and canvassed for their support. Many of them joined the Shiv Sena. But, according to Thackeray, these were very few. Most of the people who joined the Shiv Sena were not known for any particular organizational ability. The Shiv Sena had just begun and, therefore, it needed as many members as possible to get off the ground. As Bal Thackeray put it: <(! did not want to hold up the movement. Everything was happening too quickly for me, so I let the tide take me with it, but I constantly maintained that those who join me should be willing to obey me as their leader. I don't believe in your so-called democracies."14 When the 1968 municipal elections came up and the Shiv Sena decided to contest them, they found that this could be best done by a rational distribution of shakhas. These shakhas would help circulate propaganda and facilitate systematic campaigning. By this time they had sufficient members and a good number of shakhas which they could distribute more rationally, covering as many municipal wards as possible. They kept one shakha for each ward, and if another shakha fall in the same area it was to be