Throughout his political career Thackeray was a powerful, rabble-rousing orator who routinely sanctioned the use of violence to propagate his political views. He was arrested at least twice for his for inflammatory speeches and writing.
His extreme regional and religious parochialism led him to advocate Hindu suicide bombers and planting bombs in Muslim neighborhoods to "protect the nation and all Hindus."
In the early 1990s he led a successful campaign to drop what he called the colonially tainted name Bombay — a Portuguese derivation of "beautiful bay" — and replace it with Mumbai, after the local Marathi language name for a Hindu goddess. The city is the capital of Maharashtra state.
His supporters continued to sporadically threaten violence against places and institutions that held on to the old name like the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Bombay High Court, the elite Bombay Scottish School and countless restaurants, shops and offices.
More recently his followers campaigned against the celebration of Valentine's Day in several Indian cities. They attacked shops and restaurants that allowed young couples to mark the day.