Initially apolitical, the organisation was patronised by the then Chief Minister Vasantrao Naik who used it for curbing trade unions and maintain stranglehold of the Congress.

[18][19][20] The organisation at the same time carried out pro-Marathi nativist movement in Mumbai in which it agitated for preferential treatment for the Marathi people over migrants from other parts of India.

In the 1970s, it gradually moved from advocating a pro-Marathi ideology to supporting a broader Hindu nationalist agenda,[22] and aligned itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

[33][34] After the Independence of India in 1947, regional administrative divisions from the colonial era were gradually changed and states following linguistic borders were created.

[22] Initially apolitical, the organisation was patronised by the then Chief Minister Vasantrao Naik who used it for curbing trade unions and maintain stranglehold of the Congress.

[51] This shift in ideology was a significant departure from Shiv Sena's traditional stance, as the party had been historically opposed to the Congress and NCP for the majority of its existence.

[52][53][54] Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari called for a trust vote, an action that would later on be described as a "sad spectacle" [55] by Supreme Court of India, and draw criticism from Political Observers.

[56] Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the post as chief minister well as a MLC member ahead of no-confidence motion on 29 June 2022.

Shinde subsequently filed a petition with the Election Commission of India staking his claim to the 'Shiv Sena' name and the Bow and Arrow symbol.

The Shiv Sena is also affiliated with the Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti,[67] which advocates for the preservation of employment rights for Maharashtrians in Maharashtra.

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, Balwant Mantri, Hemchandra Gupte, Shyam Deshmukh, Madhav Deshpande, Datta Pradhan, Vijay Parvatkar, Madhukar Sarpotdar and Pramod Navalkar.

[69] One of the above-mentioned leaders, Hemchandra Gupte, who was 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 (transl.

Others have been either Maratha (Dattaji Salvi), Shimpi (Wamanrao Mahadik), Agri (Leeladhar Dake) or Mali (Chaggan Bhujbal).

[69] The number of Dalits were also not insignificant and even after the Sena opposed the reservations proposed by the Mandal commission, there was no dent in the percentage of Other Backward Class in the party.

[69] Shiv Sena's strength in the late 1980s and early '90s mainly came from the support of the Maratha caste - which it drew away from the Congress.

House), was the central office of the Shiv Sena, located in Ram Ganesh Gadkari Chowk and Shivaji Park in Dadar, Mumbai.

[102] In 1996, Shiv Sena organised the first and only live concert of American pop icon Michael Jackson in India to raise the funds for its business wing and to help create over two-hundred seventy thousand jobs for people of Maharashtra.

[109][110] In January 2016, the Shiv Sena demanded that the words "secular" and "socialist" be "permanently removed" from the Constitution's Preamble which were added in the 42nd amendment during the emergency.

[112][113] The Shiv Sena has been involved in several controversies, ranging from hooliganism, criminal activities, spreading religious bigotry, and moral policing.

[77] On 14 February 2006, Bal Thackeray condemned and apologised for the violent attacks by its Shiv Sainiks on a private celebration in Mumbai.

[116][117] On 20 November 2009, Shiv Sena activists attacked and vandalised the offices of Hindi and Marathi language TV news channels IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat, located in Mumbai and Pune respectively.

Shiv Sena attributed the attacks to the criticisms of Bal Thackeray by the news channel over his remarks on Sachin Tendulkar.

[126] In October 2015, Shiv Sena issued threats which enforced a ban on a scheduled concert by Pakistani classic singer Ghulam Ali.

The activists shouted anti-Pakistan slogans and held posters that read 'Shahryar Khan go back', determined to stop Manohar from meeting his Pakistani counterpart.

Shiv Sena has also threatened to stop Pakistan's Aleem Dar from officiating in the fifth and final ODI between India and South Africa.

[130] On 23 March 2017, while travelling to Delhi from Pune, Shiv Sena leader Ravindra Gaikwad was accused of thrashing Air India staff with his shoe, when they tried to make him disembark the plane, after being denied a business class seat because the flight was all-economy.

[132][133] On 19 July 2017, Malishka Mendonsa, a popular radio jockey of Red FM, released a parody video on YouTube targeting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for incompetence in dealing potholed roads.

In response to the video, the BMC and Shiv Sena slammed her and sent a notice imposing a penalty of Rs 10,000 for defamation.

[135] Malishka made another parody video against the BMC and released it on 17 July 2018, describing the incapability and pathetic conditions of Mumbai's infrastructure in the monsoons.

[137][138] Following actress Kangana Ranaut's criticism of Uddhav Thackeray and his Government for mishandling the death of Sushant Singh Rajput in September 2020, Shiv Sena leaders, including Sanjay Raut issued threats to her.