In the Marathi-majority area of Kherwadi in Bandra East, Shrikant Sarmalkar was the quintessential Shiv Sainik—a fiery street fighter who had participated in various morchas, was allegedly involved the violence that erupted in Mumbai during the 1992 riots and was the man who carried bullets in his body. He died in January this year following a prolonged illness which kept him away from the political spotlight for several years. His legacy is being claimed by two parts of his family—nephew Kunal Sarmalkar and son-in-law Hari Shastri, albeit on two sides of the Shiv Sena. Just like the Shiv Sena was split, the Sarmalkar family has also seen a political split, right in the backyard of Uddhav Thackeray’s home.
Sarmalkar’s brother’s son, Kunal, went with Shinde and is contesting the assembly elections from Bandra East, offering quite a challenge to Thackeray’s nephew Varun Sardesai. For the past few years, Kunal has been a widely visible face in the area, organising sports tournaments, funding Ganpati mandal celebrations especially in the areas of the Marathi-dominated Government Colony and Kherwadi. His wife Pallavi lends him able support by organising social and cultural events with women, adding soft power to his efforts at an electoral debut. On the other side of the family is Sarmalkar’s son-in-law Hari Shastri, an advocate by education who stayed back with the Thackeray faction.
Sarmalkar had participated in several street agitations that the Shiv Sena was famous for during Bal Thackeray’s times. He was among those who led the ‘chaddi morcha’ who protested outside the house of actor Dilip Kumar who was advocating the screening of the film, Fire, which showed same-sex relationships. The topic was taboo for the Shiv Sena at that time. Sarmalkar became a corporator in the municipal corporation in 1985 and continued to be in the BMC until 1992. In 1996, he contested the by-elections to the state legislature and won but lost the polls after that. The MLA from Kherwadi was popular for being accessible to the people and was recognised as the man who drove cars in Thackeray senior’s convoy and even provided him security. Back then, Thackeray took pride in saying that his ‘sainiks’ provided him with security. In 1987, Sarmalkar was shot by unknown assailants and while a few bullets were removed from his body, there was a bullet that stayed inside him. He quit the Shiv Sena with Narayan Rane in 2005 but returned to be with Uddhav Thackeray in 2011.
The Gen Next of the family is now working with both sections of the Shiv Sena in an attempt to claim the goodwill he enjoyed over the years.
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