Editing Shiv Sena (section)

== Party structure and caste composition ==
===Structure===
The Shiv Sena (SS) was led by a president, traditionally referred to as the "''Shiv Sena Pramukh''", ({{Translation|Chief}}) which translates to "Shiv Sena Chief" in English.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2003-03-27 |title=The Official Structure of the Shiv Sena |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/25874/chapter/193560980 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195660449.005.0002|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }}</ref> Bal Thackeray served as the first Shiv Sena ''Pramukh'' and took all major decisions while the activists and members of the Shiv Sena, known as Shiv ''Sainiks'', ({{Translation|Soldiers}}) carried out most of the party's grassroots work. During his last days, the day-to-day activities of the party were handled by his youngest son Uddhav Thackeray, who succeeded him as party leader after his death in 2012.

Shiv Sena formed a network of grassroots organizations, known as "''Shiv Sena Shakhas''" ({{Translation|Branch}}). The ''Shakhas'' serve as the primary unit of the party, with each ''Shakha'' consisting of 25-50 members. The ''Shakhas'' were responsible for carrying out the party's activities at the grassroots level, such as mobilizing voters during elections, organizing protests and rallies, and engaging in community service activities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Purandare |first=Vaibhav |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JS1hBAAAQBAJ&q=Shiv+sena+Shakha |title=Bal Thackeray & The Rise of the Shiv Sena |date=2013-02-27 |publisher=Roli Books Private Limited |isbn=978-81-7436-991-8 |language=en}}</ref>

In addition to the ''Shakhas'', the party has various other organizational structures, including the ''Yuva Sena'', ({{Translation|Youth Army}}) party's youth wing, and the ''Mahila Aghadi'', the party's women's wing. The Shiv Sena is also affiliated with the [[Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti]],<ref name="Business India">{{cite book |title=Business India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f69IAAAAYAAJ |access-date=24 February 2012 |year=1996 |publisher=A.H. Advani}}</ref> which advocates for the preservation of employment rights for [[Maharashtrians]] in Maharashtra.

Since the rebellion in 2022, the Shiv Sena under the leadership of Eknath Shinde has seen a significant restructuring, shifting away from the dynastic hold of the Thackeray family. Shinde's faction has aimed to revive the party's original ideology and strengthen its grassroots presence by reactivating and expanding the ''Shakhas'' across Maharashtra.<ref>{{cite news|title=Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena redefines its organisational structure|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/eknath-shinde-revamps-shiv-sena-structure/article65672800.ece|date=2023-05-10|access-date=2025-05-19}}</ref> Shinde's leadership has emphasized inclusivity and outreach to various caste groups, consolidating the party's position as a broad-based regional force beyond the Thackeray family's legacy.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shinde’s Shiv Sena emerges stronger post-rebellion|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/shinde-shiv-sena-emerges-stronger-post-rebellion-4412345|date=2024-01-15|access-date=2025-05-19}}</ref> The faction also claims greater democratic decision-making within the party, with more leaders from diverse backgrounds taking up key roles.<ref>{{cite news|title=Shinde government focuses on decentralizing Shiv Sena leadership|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/shinde-govt-focuses-on-decentralising-shiv-sena-leadership/articleshow/102594832.cms|date=2024-03-22|access-date=2025-05-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web  |title=The Wayback Machine has not archived that URL.  |website=[[The Times of India]]  |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/sena-tussle-holds-key-lesson-for-dynasts-build-anew-or-implode/articleshow/92773414.cms  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710015430/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/sena-tussle-holds-key-lesson-for-dynasts-build-anew-or-implode/articleshow/92773414.cms  |url-status=dead  |archive-date=10 July 2022  |access-date=2023-06-24  }}</ref>

===Caste composition===
People of various Maharashtrian castes worked together in the Sena. The party's leaders mostly came from the so-called "high castes" that is [[Brahmins]], [[Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu]] and [[Pathare Prabhus]] - Thackerey, [[Manohar Joshi]], [[Sudhir Joshi (politician)|Sudhir Joshi]], Balwant Mantri, Hemchandra Gupte, Shyam Deshmukh, Madhav Deshpande, Datta Pradhan, Vijay Parvatkar, [[Madhukar Sarpotdar]] and [[Pramod Navalkar]].<ref name="purandare13"/>
One of the above-mentioned leaders, Hemchandra Gupte, who was [[Mayor (India)|Mayor]] of Bombay in the early 70s and was the former family physician and confidant of Thackeray, quit Shivsena citing flaws such as importance given to money, violence committed by the ''Shivsainiks'' ({{Translation|Soldiers}}) and Bal Thackeray's support to then prime minister [[Indira Gandhi]] during the [[The Emergency (India)|1975 emergency]].<ref>{{cite book | title=Wages of Violence : Naming and identity in postcolonial Bombay|author= Thomas Blom Hansen|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2001|page=238|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-y3iNt0djbQC&pg=PA238|quote=18: According to Hemchandra Gupte, a former confidante of Thackeray, his major reason for leaving the party for his growing disgust with the prominence of money and the "goonda'ization" of the party(interview, 5th October 1992). 21.Interview, 3 October 1992, with Hemchandra Gupte, physician, formerly Bal Thackeray's family doctor, and Shiv Sena's mayor of Bombay from 1971 to 1972. Dr. Gupte left Shiv Sena in 1976 because of Thackerey's support for Mrs.Gandhi and the emergency.|isbn= 0691088403}}</ref>

There were also leaders from other castes such as [[Dattaji Salvi]], [[Dattaji Nalawade]] and [[Wamanrao Mahadik]], and those from the so-called lower castes such as [[Chaggan Bhujbal]], [[Leeladhar Dake]], Bhai Shingre and Vijay Gaonkar.<ref name="purandare13"/>{{Year needed|date=February 2023}}

Over the years, other than the Bal Thackeray, there have been twelve senior leaders in the party, out of these, eight have been from
upper caste (four were [[Brahmin]]s, two [[Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu]] and two [[Pathare Prabhu]]s). Others have been either [[Maratha (caste)|Maratha]] ([[Dattaji Salvi]]), [[Meru Kshatriya Shimpi|Shimpi]] ([[Wamanrao Mahadik]]), [[Agri (caste)|Agri]] ([[Leeladhar Dake]]) or [[Mali caste|Mali]] ([[Chaggan Bhujbal]]). In fact, Bhujbal quit the party accusing the party is biased towards upper caste people.<ref name="purandare13"/>

The number of [[Dalit]]s were also not insignificant and even after the Sena opposed the reservations proposed by the [[Mandal Commission|Mandal commission]], there was no dent in the percentage of [[Other Backward Class]] in the party. In this way, the Sena was successful in uniting all Maharashtrians irrespective of caste under the common "Marathi umbrella". The agenda of preferential treatment for the "sons of the soil" that is Maharashtrians brought them all together.<ref name="purandare13">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JS1hBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT106|title=Bal Thackeray and the rise of Shiv Sena|author= Vaibhav Purandare|year=2012|publisher=Roli Books|page=106|quote=Its (Sena's) thrust on the economic upliftment of Maharashtrians and demand for preferential treatment of the sons of soil in employment drew the working class towards it. They wanted someone to focus on the issue that mattered to them most:Jobs. Besides, people of various castes worked together in the Sena. Though, from among the party's leaders, Thackerey, Manohar Joshi, Sudhir Joshi, Balwant Mantri, Dr Hemchandra Gupte, Shyam Deshmukh, Madhav Deshpande, Datta Pradhan, Vijay Parvatkar, Madhukar Sarpotdar and Pramod Navalkar came from the so called high castes (they were either Brahmins, Pathare Prabhus or Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus) and middle class localities like Dadar and Girgaum, rubbing shoulders with them were leaders from the working class areas of Lalbaug-Parel such as Dattaji Salvi, Dattaji Nalavade and Wamanrao Mahadik, and those from the so called lower castes such as Chaggan Bhujbal, Leeladhar Dake, Bhai Shingre and Vijay Gaonkar.... In fact, 70 per cent of Sainiks have belonged to the OBC category, and even after the party opposed the Mandal Commission recommendations, the percentage of OBCs in the Sena did not go down. |isbn=9788174369918}}</ref>

===Voter base===
Shiv Sena's strength in the late 1980s and early '90s mainly came from the support of the [[Maratha (caste)|Maratha]] caste - which it drew away from the Congress.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|title=Caste, Class, and Capital: The Social and Political Origins of Economic Policy in India |author=Kanta Murali|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2017|pages=236–237|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RFLTDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA236|quote=Shiv Sena's strength primarily came from Maratha support, which it drew away from the Congress|isbn=978-1-107-15450-6}}</ref> Citing the large percentage of MLAs elected from Shiv Sena belonging to the [[Maratha (caste)|Maratha]] caste, Vora from the [[University of Pune]] concludes that the Shiv Sena has been emerging as a "Maratha Party".<ref>{{cite book|quote=The Shiv Sena is emerging as another Maratha party if we go by the number of Marathas elected on its ticket in the last four elections to the Vidhan Sabha. |pages=240, 241|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=78rfCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA240|editor1=Christophe Jaffrelot|editor2=Sanjay Kumar|author=Rajendra Vora|title=Rise of the Plebeians?: The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies|isbn=9781136516627|date=4 May 2012|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>