Hindu hardline Shiv Sena party leader Bal Thackeray, center, talks to Indian Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, left, at the release ceremony of a pictorial biography on his life, as former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee looks on in Mumbai, India. Thackeray, the extremist leader linked to waves of mob violence against Muslims and migrant workers, has died Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, after ailing for several weeks. He was 86. – File photo by AP

MUMBAI: Bal Thackeray, who died on Saturday aged 86, was a firebrand Indian politician whose right-wing Hindu party renamed Bombay and became synonymous with deadly ethnic violence.

His death leaves the western state of Maharashtra and its capital – now known as Mumbai – without one of its most controversial figures, who more than once expressed his admiration for the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Born on January 23, 1926 to a social activist father who played a key role in the movement to establish the Marathi-speaking state of Maharashtra, “The Tiger” as he was known began life as a political cartoonist.

But he later became more involved in calling for greater rights for local Marathi-speaking people and protecting their culture and language from migrant workers.

Re-naming Bombay as Mumbai in 1995, after a local deity and city landmarks, was seen as an attempt to rid the city of its British colonial past and emphasise its Marathi roots.

Thackeray had founded the Shiv Sena or Shivaji’s Army in 1966 in honour of the legendary 17th-century Marathi figure whose battles established a Hindu kingdom in a land then run by Muslims.

The party’s ideology to protect and promote local “sons of the soil”evolved into a high-profile campaign against south Indian clerks and restaurateurs, Gujaratis, Muslims, north Indians and Bangladeshis who had come to the area for work.

A tightly-controlled network of Shiv Sena cells across the city often followed up threats and intimidation with violence.

Among the Sena’s targets were shops selling Valentine’s Day cards, cinemas showing a film with a lesbian theme and Pakistani sportsmen and entertainers.

In 2010, activists forced some Mumbai cinemas to close in protest at “unpatriotic” comments by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan lamenting the absence of Pakistani cricketers from that year’s Indian Premier League.

Most significantly, Thackeray stoked the fires of tension after Hindu militants destroyed a mosque in 1992 said to have been built on the site of a Hindu temple in the northern town of Ayodhya.

As reprisal attacks spread throughout India, he called on Hindus to “teach (Muslims) a lesson”.

A subsequent judicial inquiry later pointed the finger at Thackeray, accusing him of directly inciting anti-Muslim violence that left more than 1,000 people dead in India’s financial and entertainment capital.

Thackeray was never brought to book by the authorities.

In 1994, the Shiv Sena came to power in Maharashtra in a coalition with the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), buoyed by anti-Muslim sentiment and a wave of bomb blasts blamed on Islamist extremists.

One of its first acts was to rename the city in a move that was widely criticised at the time, though “Mumbai” has since become its globally accepted title.

Thackeray was never a lawmaker – indeed he once said he hated politics – but his hand was seen in many of the state government’s decisions.

Some saw the measure of his power and influence in his invitation to Michael Jackson to play a concert in the city in 1996 – and donate the profits to a Shiv Sena youth charity.

The late US singer is said to have autographed a toilet he used in Thackeray’s bungalow.

The party lost power at state level in 1999 but has retained a presence ever since, with a BJP-Shiv Sena coalition in February winning a fourth consecutive term over Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

The ageing Thackeray’s pronouncements continued to be watched with both interest and fear as power passed to his son Uddhav and his nephew Raj set up a new, rival party.

His fiery speeches – in later years through the Marathi-language newspaper Saamna (Confrontation) – ridiculed revered Indian political figures and showed “The Tiger” still had teeth.

He appeared by videolink to his followers in October during a Hindu festival, looking frail and describing his weakened state in what sounded like a farewell speech.

“People should keep their loyalty intact (towards Shiv Sena)… You took care of me, now take care of Uddhav and Aditya,” he said, referring to his son and grandson.

Behind every pronouncement stood Thackeray’s regionalist agenda or desire to protect traditional Indian values but it stood increasingly at odds with India’s fast-growing economy that was embracing globalisation.

He may have found support among those whose jobs were threatened, but for many the communalism he espoused looked out of touch with modern India.

Locals and rescuers search for survivors after a bus fell into the Purna River in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra state, about 650 kilometers north of state capital Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. — Photo by AP

NEW DELHI: Police say 17 people died when the bus they were traveling in plunged into a river in western India.  

The bus was crossing the Purna river in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra state Wednesday morning when the accident took place. The area is 650 kilometers north of state capital Mumbai.

Head Constable Surendra Mahaske says at least 10 passengers were injured. The cause was not immediately clear because the driver was among those killed. Mahaske says the bus had at least 40 passengers and villagers helped the survivors out of the river.

India has the world’s highest road death toll. More than 110,000 people die in road accidents there each year.

Indian paramilitary force (CRPF) soldiers conduct a search operation close to the spot where Maoist leader Kishenji was shot during an encounter with security personnel in a jungle area at Burisole.—AFP Photo

NEW DELHI: Maoist rebels ambushed a patrol team in central India on Tuesday, killing at least 15 paramilitary policemen, a police official said.

The policemen were travelling through a densely forested area of Maharashtra state when the rebels set off a land mine, blowing up their vehicle, the official said.

Another 13 policemen were wounded in the powerful blast, he said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting for more than three decades in several Indian states, demanding land and jobs for agricultural labourers and the poor. They frequently target police and government officials, whom they accuse of colluding with landlords and rich farmers to exploit the poor.

The rebels are now present in 20 of India’s 28 states and have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, according to the Home Ministry. Thousands of people _ including police, militants and civilians _ have died in the violence in recent years.

Police and paramilitary soldiers were searching the area in Gadchiroli district where Tuesday’s attack took place, but the rebels fled after they set off the land mine, the official said. Additional troops were also sent to the Gadchiroli region in northeast Maharashtra, which is considered a rebel stronghold.

On March 14, the rebels abducted two Italian men who were trekking through a remote forest in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

One of the men was released unharmed over the weekend, but the other is still being held, and negotiations with the government are ongoing.

The Maoists want the government to call off all anti-rebel operations in Orissa and release rebel leaders from jail before they agree to release the remaining hostage.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the Maoist rebels the biggest internal threat to India’s security. In 2010, he announced ”Operation Green Hunt,” a push to flush out the rebels from their forest hideouts.