Dadar दादर
—  Neighbourhood  —
Kabooter Khana, Dadar (West)
Dadar
Coordinates: 19°01′05″N 72°50′41″E / 19.01798°N 72.844763°E / 19.01798; 72.844763Coordinates: 19°01′05″N 72°50′41″E / 19.01798°N 72.844763°E / 19.01798; 72.844763
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
District	Mumbai City
Metro	Mumbai
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	400028

Dadar is a place in Mumbai, and is also a railway station on both the Western (Dadar) and Central lines (Dadar T.T.) of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network. Dadar is situated in the heart of Mumbai, and Dadar station is the only railway station common to both the Central and Western lines. This makes the station a transit point for thousands of passengers using the Mumbai Suburban Railway and one of the most crowded railway stations on the network.

Dadar has long been a cultural center, not only for Maharashtrians and the Marathi speaking population, but for the entire Indian diaspora.

Dadar is divided into East and West by the railway line. Dadar East is popularly called Dadar Central or Dadar T.T. because the former Dadar Tram Terminus (which was closed with the closure of the tram network in Mumbai) is located here. Dadar West is sometimes referred to as Dadar B.B. because it lies along the western line, which was once part of the Bombay & Baroda & Central India (BB&CI) Railway. Dadar West market is a very popular shopping destination for residents of central Mumbai, the suburbs, and distant satellite towns.

Dadar vegetable market was the heart of the city and was responsible for distributing vegetables across all of Mumbai. It is said that one can get all possible things in Dadar. It is also famous for its underworld.

Dadar is home to the famous Shivaji Park, a huge playground that has been home to some of the best cricket players in the world, including Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar. The Shivaji Park Residential area, a predominantly upper middle class residential zone, has also become a highly sought after residential area in South Mumbai because of its proximity to the Dadar Chowpatty, Shivaji Park, Mahatma Gandhi Olympic Swimming Pool and the famous Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi. One of the largest primary and secondary schools in Mumbai, run by the Indian Education Society (IES) and also Balmohan Vidyamandir is located in Dadar. There are both Marathi and English medium schools from standards 1 through 10.

Dadar is home to the Plaza movie theatre, which was damaged during the 1993 bomb-blasts/riots. It has now reopened and remains one of the few theaters in Mumbai that show Marathi movies.

Dadar is also home to Chaitya Bhoomi, where the last rites of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar were performed. On December 6 there is a huge ceremony in his memory.

It is also home to the Mumbai Mayor's Bungalow, the official residence of the Mayor of Mumbai and the famous Sena Bhavan, headquarters of the political party Shiv Sena.

Dadar has Lokmanya Tilak Bridge, the oldest bridge in Mumbai, built in 1923. This bridge is made of entirely of granite and hard English-made metal. The bridge is an important connection between east and west Dadar. Approximately 10,000 cars use the bridge each day.

Dadar is also very famous for Maharashtrian food like Batata Vada, Vada Pav, Thalipith, Sabudana Vada, Misal Pav, Usual Pav, Puri Bhajji, and Piyush (a sweet drink). There are many restaurants that serve Maharashtrian food. These include Prakash Hotel, Dattatraya Hotel, Aswaad Hotel, and Tambe for food and Panshikar for Sweets.

History[link]

Portuguese Church, Dadar (West)

Dadar chowpatty(beach)

Shivaji Park Ground

In the 16th century, the area was known as lower Mahim as it was located on the island of Mahim, one of the Seven islands of Bombay which, after Bombay Island proper, was the most important during the whole of the Portuguese period.^[1] The Portuguese Franciscans built a church here in 1596 called Nossa Senhora de Salvação, which is popularly known today as Portuguese Church and is a familiar Dadar landmark.^[2]

The Dadar-Matunga-Wadala-Sion scheme of 1899-1900 was the first planned suburban scheme in Mumbai (formerly Bombay). The Bombay Improvement Trust devised the plan to relieve congestion in the centre of the town following the plague epidemics of the 1890s. According to the survey plan, 60,000 people were to be housed at Dadar-Matunga and an equal number in Sion-Matunga. 85,000 people were to be accommodated in the developments in Sewri-Wadala.

Among the institutions moved to Dadar under the CIT plan were Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, now known as Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute and King George school, now known as IES' Raja Shivaji Vidyasankul (now a collection of several schools).

Ramnarain Ruia College in 1937 and Ramniranjan Podar College was founded in 1939, completing Dadar’s transition from residential suburb to diverse neighbourhood. Both colleges are run by SP Mandali.

Dadar also has the Institute Of Hotel Management -IHMCTAN MUMBAI.

By 1937 Shivaji Park and the surrounding areas were developed. This public space was to become an important stage in the political drama leading up to India's independence. Later political history in Bombay also unfolded in this park.

Shivaji Park ground is famous as the Cricket Education ground. Many cricketers like Ashok Mankad, Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Hazare, Salim Durani, Ajit Wadekar, Sunil Gavaskar, Sandip Patil, Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, and Ajit Agarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar have trained here.

Railways Transport[link]

Dadar is a prominent Train Terminus in the city of Mumbai and offers various trains for passenger transport. There are two Dadar stations, one for the Western Railway (Churchgate-Dahanu Road) and one for the Central Railway (CST-Kalyan). Both stations are major interchanges.

Prominent Residential Neighbourhoods in Dadar[link]

• Shivaji Park
• Hindu colony
• Lokmanya Tilak Colony
• Khandke Building
• Dadar Parsi Colony
• Kabutar Khana
• Shiv Sena Bhavan
• Shivaji Mandir
• Prakash Hotel
• Shardashram Society
• Portuguese Church

External links[link]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dadar

Raj Shrikant Thackeray (Marathi: राज श्रीकांत ठाकरे) (born 14 June 1968) is the founder and president of the right-wing^{[citation needed]} Marathi ethnocentric regional political party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena ("Maharashtra Reformation Army") in the state of Maharashtra, India. His official name is Swararaj which means the king of musical notes.^[1] He is the nephew of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, and a cousin of the current Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray.^[2]

Early life[link]

Raj was born on 14 June 1968 in a Marathi Kayastha (CKP) family to Shrikant Thackeray (younger brother of Bal Thackeray) and Kunda Thackeray (younger sister of Bal Thackeray's wife Meena Thackeray). Raj’s father Shrikant Thackeray was a musician, cartoonist and was also well versed in Urdu. He studied in Balmohan Vidyamandir, Mumbai and graduated from the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art, Mumbai. As a child he is said to have learnt the tabla, the guitar and the violin. He also loved drawing which later turned into a passion for drawing cartoons.

Political career[link]

Raj started his political career with his Uncle Bal Thackeray. Bal Thackeray has been a huge influence on Raj’s life. Raj has been said to have modeled himself after him. In 1997, he started the Shiv Udyog Sena a youth wing for the Shiv Sena. With this he tried to strengthen his youth leader image. "He raised funds for the employment agency with, among other sources, concerts by Michael Jackson and Lata Mangeshkar — and thus, simultaneously, propagated the new brand of the Sena's popular culture and its implications for a nascent generational change within the organization". But his association with the Sena ended in 2006. In January 2006 he resigned from the Sena alleging that it was being "run by petty clerks" because of which it had "fallen from its former glory". There has been quite a lot of speculation over the real reason why he left the party. The popular rumor being that he was being "sidelined" by Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav. In the same year Raj announced his intention to start his own political party. Although separated from his mentor, Raj has always maintained that he does not want to have hostilities with his uncle who "was, is and always will be (his) mentor".

Political Views[link]

Marathi Identity[link]

Raj Thackeray and his party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, state that Maharashtra State, Marathi language and Marathi Manoos are subverted by the influence of non-Marathi politicians within and outside the State, and that these politicians should be opposed in order to attain prosperity for Maharashtra and Marathi people.^[3]

Opposition to Immigrants[link]

Since the creation of his party, Raj Thackeray has opposed immigration into Maharashtra from North India. According to Raj Thackeray, he is against immigrants specifically from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and not from North India or elsewhere, in general. According to him, bad governance, corruption, high crime rates and criminal, politicians in these two states for decades, has degraded the socio-economic conditions there, causing exodus of people from these states to other states, like Maharashtra. This causes unemployment and increased crime rates in Maharashtra and other states which receive these immigrants. Also, due to rising number of immigrants, the politician from these two states have gained power in Maharashtra. He, however has made it clear that he is not against Hindi.^[4]

Violence in Agitations[link]

Raj Thackery and his party MNS have been criticized^{[citation needed]} for use of violence during their agitations, especially directed towards immigrants from UP and Bihar. He is facing several charges for instigating violence in various courts.^{[citation needed]} On use of violence, Thackeray says that violence is a part of all agitations in Indian politics, and there are several cases of much more violence carried out by other parties and organisations. According to him, the incidents of violence involving members of his party have been unduly highlighted by North Indian politicians and journalists.^[4]

Supporter of Narendra Modi's Governance[link]

Thackeray is an admirer of Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi for his governance, and the development of Gujarat during his tenure. In August 2011, Raj Thackeray visited Gujarat on a 9-day trip as 'state guest' to study the development in Gujarat. He also advised politicians in Maharashtra, irrespective of party, to take lessons from Modi and Gujarat.^[5] He has also expressed support for Modi for the post Prime Minister of India for the 2014 Lok Sabha (general) election.^[5]

Agitations[link]

Marathi signboards for shops[link]

In July 2008, Raj issued a public warning that Mumbai shops needed to have Marathi signboards in addition to the existing English signboards. He warned that after one month, MNS workers would start blackening non-Marathi signboards.^{[citation needed]} While there had been a law to this effect passed earlier by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, it had not been enforced.^{[citation needed]}

Raj had also insisted that the Marathi signboards had to be at least as big as the English signboards. A number of big shopowners, notably Viren Shah (Roopam chain) went to court against this move. The high-court provided them relief, passing a judgement that the Marathi signboards did not have to be as big as English signboards.^[6]

In September 2008, MNS workers resorted to blackening signboards, to enforce the demand, after which most shop owners complied. Six MNS workers were arrested but later released on bail. The Congress government was dilatory in filing chargesheets against them, following which the Maharashtra high-court passed strictures against the government. When the government prosecutor submitted in December that the chargesheets had not been filed as investigation was ongoing, the judge remarked sarcastically whether this was a murder case to warrant such long investigations, three months after the arrest of the MNS workers, but Raj was attempting to enforce a rule previously on the books.^[7]

Agitation against Jet Airways layoffs[link]

In October 2008, on the eve of the major Indian festival Diwali, Jet Airways laid off 800 temporary workers and announced layoffs of an additional 1100 workers. The laid-off workers included Marathi as well as North-Indians. These workers met Raj Thackeray and asked him to intervene. Following this, Raj Thackeray declared that most of these workers had paid security deposits to the company, and he would meet Jet management to plead their case. Unless Jet Airways cancelled the layoffs, his party would not allow any Jet Airways plane to take off from any airport in Maharashtra.^[8]

Within 12 hours of Raj Thackeray's declaration, Jet chairman Naresh Goyal reversed the layoffs and reinstated the sacked employees. He claimed that he did it on his own and that there was no political pressure on him. Leftist Unions, Shivsena & Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel later tried to take credit for the decision. On announcement of the layoffs, Praful Patel had claimed that he had no jurisdiction over the layoffs issue.^[9] Sacked Jet employees on the other hand stated that they were warned by Jet management on reinstatement, not to meet Raj Thackeray to thank him.^[10]

Demand for Telecom customer service in Marathi[link]

Telecom companies in Maharashtra had been providing customer service in English & Hindi only. Raj demanded that all telecom companies operating in Maharashtra start providing the service in Marathi also and set a deadline of 27 February 2010, after which his party MNS would launch an agitation. Following this demand, all telecom companies complied, introducing Marathi as an additional option in their customer service.^[11]

Maharashtra-Karnataka Border Issue[link]

In Dec 2011, Raj Thackeray meeting a group from MES (Maharshtra Ekikaran Samiti) advised them that they should revisit their stand of merging Belgaum with Maharashtra in the interest of marathi speaking people of belgaum. In a major departure from the stance previously taken by traditional right wing groups of Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray argued that a practical approach rather than an emotional one was the need of the hour. However, he said that if the supreme court itself gives a decision in favor of Belgaum's merger he would welcome it, although the local situation in Belgaum should not be vitiated for the sake of it. He asked the MES leaders to first identify the real issue as to whether marathis in belgaum are being targeted for espousing the cause of marathi language or because they were supporting the merger of Belgaum with Maharashtra. Lamenting that strikes and bandhs only add to the misery of the Marathi-speaking community in Belgaum, Thackeray said: "If the Karnataka government is ready to respect the Marathi people, their culture and language, then there is nothing wrong in Belgaum being there."^[12] His comments were strongly criticized by his cousin Uddhav Thackeray as a cruel joke on the marathi manoos.^[13]

Controversies[link]

2008 violence against UP & Biharis[link]

At a rally in Shivaji Park, Raj warned that if the dadagiri (intimidating dominance) of these people in Mumbai and Maharashtra continued, he would be compelled to make them leave the metropolis.^[14] Raj was arrested along with a Samajwadi Party leader, Abu Azmi, for their involvement in the fracas. He was released on paying a penalty of 15,000 (US$299.25).

Acquittal in Kini murder case[link]

In July 1996, Ramesh Kini was found dead in a cinema in Pune. Kini was a tenant in a ramshackle tenement in central Mumbai, whose landlord, Laxmikant Shah, was trying to evict him. Shah also happened to be a close childhood friend of Raj Thackeray. A CBI enquiry was later issued for the case, but the CBI dismissed the case as one of suicide.^[15]

Kohinoor mill controversy[link]

Shiv Sena opposed sale of mill land, but Raj Thackeray bid for and won mill land in prime Mumbai real estate.^[16] On 21 July 2005, Raj and Unmesh Joshi, son of Shiv Sena Leader Manohar Joshi purchased a five acre plot of land, Kohinoor Mill No. 3, located across the road from the Shiv Sena party headquarters in Dadar, Mumbai for 421 crore (US$83.99 million). The NCP leader from Mumbai, Sachin Ahir, objected to the sale of the Kohinoor Mill land, saying that there were forty bids, yet only three were short-listed. He demanded a re-bid as there was a lack of transparency in the move.^[17]

Reaction to Jaya Bachchan's controversial statement[link]

The words of Jaya Bachchan, veteran actor and sitting Rajya Sabha MP of Samajwadi Party (with whom Raj's MNS has crossed swords a number of times), during the Music launch of the Hindi film Drona, were deemed hurtful by Raj Thackeray.

Jaya's words 'Hum UP (Uttar Pradesh) ke log hain, isliye Hindi mein baat karenge, Maharashtra ke log Maaf Kijiye' (We are from UP region, so we will speak in Hindi. People of Maharashtra, please excuse) in response to the film's Director, Goldie Behl, making his introductory speech in English and subsequently encouraging the actress Priyanka Chopra to speak in Hindi.^[18]

Raj commented that Jaya had no business alluding to all the people of Maharashtra in that statement. He threatened to ban all Bachchan films unless Jaya apologised in a public forum for hurting Maharashtrians. MNS workers began to attack theatres screening The Last Lear starring Jaya Bachchan's husband, Amitabh Bachchan. Shivsena MP Sanjay Raut also criticized Jaya's statement saying: "After making all your success & fortune in Mumbai, if you feel like saying that, We are From UP, its very unfortunate." It was only after Amitabh tendered an apology that the screening resumed.^[19]

Following Raj's threat, Mumbai police acted against Raj, issuing a gag order preventing him from speaking to the media.^[20]

Remarks on Chhath Puja and Migrants[link]

Raj reproached North Indian leaders for politicizing Chhath Puja, a festival popular in Bihar, calling it a "drama" and a "show of numerical strength". He stated that the Chhath Puja was a political gimmick by some parties to attract the north Indian vote. He questioned the motives by citing that the puja is performed on the banks of a river, not the sea as it was being performed.^[21] He demanded that they only celebrate Maharashtra day and not UP day in Maharashtra. A petition was filed in the Patna civil court on 8 February against him for his remarks.^[22] His statements drew flak from political leaders across the board, especially those from the North Indian states. The then Indian Railways minister and former chief minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, vowed that he would come to Mumbai and perform Chhath Puja in front of Raj's house, which he failed to perform. He also ridiculed Raj saying, "He [Raj] is a child in politics".^[21] The Navnirman Sena leader accused migrants of swamping Maharashtra, India's most industrialised state, in search of jobs.^[23]

The MNS chief also accused migrants of disrespecting the local culture. On 9 February, expressing his stance on new migrants settling in Mumbai, Raj said, "New immigrants to the city should be denied entry into the city, while those already staying here should show respect to the Marathi 'manoos' and his culture".^[24]

Mumbai-Bombay Controversy: Wake Up Sid[link]

On 2 October 2009, MNS workers disrupted the screening of the film Wake Up Sid on its release in a few Pune and Mumbai theatres, after Raj objected to references in the movie to "Bombay" rather than "Mumbai". The city of Mumbai was referred to as "Bombay" in many scenes^[25] and in some songs (lyrics by Javed Akhtar). The film's producer, Karan Johar, visited Raj's residence to apologise, and agreed to all of Raj's terms, including an apology on each of the 700 frames in the film.^[26]

Personal life[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2012)

Raj is married to Sharmila, daughter of famous Marathi theater/films actor, producer-director Mohan Wagh. They have one son named Amit Thackeray and one daughter Urvashi Thackeray.

Like his father and uncle Raj is a painter and cartoonist. He had also expressed his desire to work for Walt Disney Studios. Raj Thackeray said when asked what he would have done had he not joined politics? "In my college days, I wanted to work with Walt Disney Studios. I drew cartoons even before my foray in politics. Film making is also a passion. I would have been doing either of these things."

External links[link]

• Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Official Website
• Outlook India Back Issues
• Raj Thackerey's response in The Indian Express to Sudheendra Kulkarni's criticism
• New legal strategy to tame Raj

References[link]