Parat ya, Parat ya, Balasaheb parat ya’ (Come back, come back, Balasaheb come back) chant rent the air on Sunday, as thousands of Shiv Sainks from different parts of Maharashtra lined up to pay homage to Sena chief Bal Thackeray on the occasion of his first death anniversary, at the newly-developed landscaped memorial garden at Shivaji Park in north-central Mumbai.
On a day when several political bigwigs and dignitaries, including veteran BJP leader lK Advani, Union Agricultural Minister Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan paid floral tributes to the late Sena chief at the Thackeray memorial, the Shivaji Park reverberated to the slogans like “Amar Rahe, Amar Rahe, Balasaheb Amar Rahe” and “Ekach Saheb, Ekach Saheb —Balasaheb” (one and only leader, that is Balasaheb) from the party workers.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, his wife Rashmi, sons Aditya and Tejas were among the first to arrive at the Shivjai Park to pay homage to the late Sena patriarch at the landscaped garden, developed by the Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), days ahead of the first death anniversary of the departed leader.
The Shivaji Park, a historic ground where the Shiv Sena was founded way back in 1966, where late Thackeray addressed massive Dussehra rallies year after year till a year prior to his death and where the Sena
chief was cremated on November 18 last year, came alive, as the Sainks from different parts of the State began queuing up near the landscaped memorial as early as early as from 6 am, to pay homage to the departed Sena chief.
The 800-square feet Thackeray memorial has been developed jointly by the BMC’s Garden department and civic G-north ward, using natural stones, red soil and pebbles. As many as 15 flowering plants including Poinsettia, Petunia, Golden Cypress and Ixora, make the memorial a colourful sight. Bollards have been installed around the memorial site, design of which has been cleared by the State-run Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA).
late Thackeray had an emotional attachment with the Shivaji Park — where he had addressed his first Dussehra rally four months after he founded the Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966 and gone onto address Dussehra rallies there every year thereafter barring two years. In 2005, the Sena had cancelled the rally owing to heavy rains, while Thackeray could not make it to the October 24, 2012 Dussehra rally owing to his indisposition (but his video-recorded speech was played at that rally).
Apart from Advani, Pawar and Sankaranarayanan, prominent among other political leaders and dignitaries who turned up at the “Shiv Theerth” — as the Sena calls the Shivaji Park as — to pay their tributes were: senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, his party’s State unit president Devendra Fadnavis, party leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy, leader of the Opposition in the State legislative Council Vinod Tawde, senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi, senior State Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, NCP MP Supriya Sule, industrialists Rahul Bajaj and Venugopal Dhoot and RPI (A) president Ramdas Athavale. Thackeray died of a cardio-respiratory arrest on November 17, 2012. A day later, the Sena chief’s mortal remains were cosigned to flames in the first-ever funeral held at the Shivaji Park, in full public view.