On a cool rainy day on June 19, 1966 a young political cartoonist with fiery eyes assembled a loose 'Army of Shivaji' and launched the Shiv Sena. After many ups and downs the saffron party is going high and now its elebrating the golden jubilee of its founding. A huge bash is planned on June 19th to mark the milestone.
But on other hand even the loyal party members and some outside supporters can't tolerate it. After lots of issues, like anti-South Indian, anti-North Indian, anti-Gujarati. the party finally tasted the fruits of power in 1995.
The party was also blamed for lots of troubles like communal riots in different parts of the state and Mumbai. The party voted to office first in 1995 in alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party and once again in 2014 piggybacking on BJP the party got its nominal share in power at the centre under both NDA regimes.
The Sena continues to lack a strong party organization, a support base mostly restricted to some urban centres like Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune, Aurangabad and Nashik.
