MUMBAI: Former mayor Sudhir Joshione of Balasaheb Thackeray’s trusted lieutenants who took the Shiv Sena‘s message to the burgeoning Maharashtrian middle-class of the city five decades ago, passed away on Thursday. He was 82.
Joshi was admitted to Jaslok hospital last week following post-Covid health issues, it was learned. He was former CM Manohar Joshi’s nephew. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray declared a state funeral on Friday for the former minister. Joshi is survived by son, daughter-in-law and grand children.
The pre-2000 generation of Shiv Sena activists remembered Joshi for his organizational skills and ability to connect with the grassroot Sainiks from Mumbai’s underbelly. “For countless Sena workers Joshisaheb was ‘Sudhirbhau’, an endearment he coveted till the last,” said Anil Desai, a Joshi protege and MP.
First elected to the BMC in 1968, Joshi was in his late twenties when Balasaheb chose him for the mayoral polls in 1973. Although the Shiv Sena was short of a majority on the floor of the house, it won the prestigious election and Joshi earned the Honor of being Mumbai’s youngest first citizen.
“Soft-spoken and low-profile, Sudhirbhau believed in working quietly for the party. He was easily accessible to sainiks. If there was a crisis in the neighborhood one could ring his doorbell even at three in the morning,” said Desai.
Joshi groomed young Shiv Sena functionaries such as Anil Desai, Subhash Desai and Narayan Rane, to name a few. “Sudhirbhau shaped our career as elected representatives and as Sena karyakarta,” added Desai.
Impressed by Balasaheb’s son-of-the-soil call in the 1970s, Joshi joined the Sena and soon got down to mobilizing the Marathi ‘manoos’ for the party’s cause. He led for years the Sena’s white-collar employees’ union Sthaneeya Lokadhikar Samiti with tenacity and tact. Soon, the Samiti became the Sena’s powerhouse as it consolidated its base in the banking and aviation sector, and the Union government undertakings, attracting hordes of Maharashtrian graduates into its fold. Many of them were put in charge of the party’s poll machinery during subsequent elections, thanks to Joshi’s leadership qualities. He was elected to the state legislative council too. Joshi was connected with several educational, sports and cultural bodies in Dadar, his political bastion.
When the Sena-BJP assumed office after the keenly contested 1995 assembly elections, Manohar Joshi inducted him into his cabinet as revenue minister, then made him education minister.
A major car accident in 1997 cut short Sudhirbhau’s flourishing political career.
Union minister Narayan Rane, CM Uddhav Thackeray, ministers Aditya Thackeray, Subhash Desai and Eknath Shinde, mayor Kishori Pednekar, Saamna executive editor Sanjay Raut, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and governor Koshyari, among others, paid glowing tributes to Joshi.
Joshi was admitted to Jaslok hospital last week following post-Covid health issues, it was learned. He was former CM Manohar Joshi’s nephew. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray declared a state funeral on Friday for the former minister. Joshi is survived by son, daughter-in-law and grand children.
The pre-2000 generation of Shiv Sena activists remembered Joshi for his organizational skills and ability to connect with the grassroot Sainiks from Mumbai’s underbelly. “For countless Sena workers Joshisaheb was ‘Sudhirbhau’, an endearment he coveted till the last,” said Anil Desai, a Joshi protege and MP.
First elected to the BMC in 1968, Joshi was in his late twenties when Balasaheb chose him for the mayoral polls in 1973. Although the Shiv Sena was short of a majority on the floor of the house, it won the prestigious election and Joshi earned the Honor of being Mumbai’s youngest first citizen.
“Soft-spoken and low-profile, Sudhirbhau believed in working quietly for the party. He was easily accessible to sainiks. If there was a crisis in the neighborhood one could ring his doorbell even at three in the morning,” said Desai.
Joshi groomed young Shiv Sena functionaries such as Anil Desai, Subhash Desai and Narayan Rane, to name a few. “Sudhirbhau shaped our career as elected representatives and as Sena karyakarta,” added Desai.
Impressed by Balasaheb’s son-of-the-soil call in the 1970s, Joshi joined the Sena and soon got down to mobilizing the Marathi ‘manoos’ for the party’s cause. He led for years the Sena’s white-collar employees’ union Sthaneeya Lokadhikar Samiti with tenacity and tact. Soon, the Samiti became the Sena’s powerhouse as it consolidated its base in the banking and aviation sector, and the Union government undertakings, attracting hordes of Maharashtrian graduates into its fold. Many of them were put in charge of the party’s poll machinery during subsequent elections, thanks to Joshi’s leadership qualities. He was elected to the state legislative council too. Joshi was connected with several educational, sports and cultural bodies in Dadar, his political bastion.
When the Sena-BJP assumed office after the keenly contested 1995 assembly elections, Manohar Joshi inducted him into his cabinet as revenue minister, then made him education minister.
A major car accident in 1997 cut short Sudhirbhau’s flourishing political career.
Union minister Narayan Rane, CM Uddhav Thackeray, ministers Aditya Thackeray, Subhash Desai and Eknath Shinde, mayor Kishori Pednekar, Saamna executive editor Sanjay Raut, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and governor Koshyari, among others, paid glowing tributes to Joshi.
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