Bal Keshav Thackeray (IPA: ['ʈʰa:kə'ɾei]; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012) was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing Marathi ethnocentric party active mainly in the Western Indian state of Maharashtra. He was called as 'Balasaheb' by his supporters.