Shiv Sena

They were created in 1966 and now they have millions of members, who are called Shivsainiks. Their website is bizarre, with the menu page in Hindi (which I can barely read), but as soon as you click a button the information is in English.

Anyway, I managed to stumble through to the profile page which said, "Shivsena wanted to work for the downtrodden who had no savior (sic) and who have been looking for somebody who shall raise their voice. Utmost love towards Motherland and constructive social work have been Shivsena's goals. Therefore, Shivsena taught the youth to be self reliant, strong and dedicated to the cause ... Shivsena always fought against evil traditions, illiteracy and casteism."

Profound, no? Well the problem is they come across as intolerant and far too conservative. For example, on Valentine's Day 2003 they raided shops all over India burning Valentine's Day cards and protesting against the "day of shame and lust."

"Valentine's Day is nothing but a Western onslaught on India's culture to attract youth for commercial purposes," said a senior Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, son of the party leader Bal Thackeray.

Some time ago, they disrupted screenings of a film with actress Manisha Koirala because it feautured some "obscene" shots which were in fact nothing more than a body-double showing some skin. Earlier, they had also disrupted screenings OF the film 'Fire' because it depicted a homosexual relationship.

Their symbol is a tiger, and their election symbol is a bow and arrow. For any E2 noders who want to join they can apply to Shivsena Bhavan, Ram Ganesh Gadkari Chowk, Dadar, Mumbai - 400 028. Their e-mail address is shivsenabhavan@shivsena.org. According to the site, "Any Citizen of Hindustan who loves his motherland can become a member irrespective of his caste, creed, religion and language."

That's good to know. And here I was thinking they were a bunch of intolerant, right-wing fascists.