Keshav Sitaram alias Prabodhankar Thackeray, commonly known as Prabodhankar Thackeray, was one of the Key leaders of the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti

Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti

http://ekmarathimanoos.blogspot.com/2009/01/belgaum-border-dispute-bleeding-wound.htmlSanyukta Maharashtra Samiti , roughly translated as United Maharashtra Committee, was an organisation that spearheaded the demand in the 1950s for the creation of a separate Marathi-speaking state out of the ...

 which successfully campained for a linguistic state of Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

. He is also the father of Bal Thackeray

Bal Thackeray

Bal Keshav Thackeray , popularly known as Balasaheb Thackeray, is an Indian politician, founder and chief of the Shiv Sena, a right-wing Hindu nationalist, and Marathi ethnocentric party active mainly in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.Born in Pune, Thackeray began his professional career...

, the founder and supremo of the Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena , is a political party in India founded on 19 June 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray. It is currently headed by Thackeray's son, Uddhav Thackeray...

 a Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

- Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 regionalist party and also the grandfather of Shiv Sena executive President Uddhav Thackeray

Uddhav Thackeray

Uddhav Thackeray is the executive president of the Shiv Sena, a right wing, Marathi ethnocentric regional political party based in the Indian state of Maharashtra...

 and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is a political party based in Maharashtra operating on the motto of "Sons of the Soil". It was founded on the March 9, 2006 in Mumbai by Raj Thackeray after he left the Shiv Sena due to differences with Uddhav Thackeray and sidelining in major decisions like...

 chief Raj Thackeray

Raj Thackeray

Raj Shrikant Thackeray is the founder and president of the right-wing Marathi ethnocentric regional political party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the state of Maharashtra, India...

.

Biography

Keshav Sitaram alias Prabodhankar Thackeray made a mark in modern Maharashtra by virtue of his leadership in the social, political and intellectual spheres. He became a stringent critic of religious conformism and launched an attack on malpractices like tonsuring widows, untouchability and practice of dowry. With a remarkable insight into the contemporary social processes, he concluded that professional priesthood was at the root of many of the injustices meted out to women and the under-privileged classes. He was quick to realise the potential of journalism for spreading social messages and used the press effectively to fight social evils. He was a prolific writer, having penned many plays, biographies and booklets. His writing was focused on social causes and not just literary excellence. He was also accomplished as a historian and an artist. The Samyukta Maharashtra movement, in which he played an important role in the autumn of his life, was perhaps the most important struggle in his life. Its successful culmination, unifying several diverse parties, stands testimony to Prabodhankar's diplomacy and leadership qualities.