"The only problem with the (Shiv) Sena is public perception,” avers Khorram Siodia (pictured), deputy shakha pramukh, Ward 214 of the political party formed over 50 years ago on a communal Marathi-only plank by one time political cartoonist Bal Thackeray. 
The approach has changed since, the 39-year-old resident of Khareghat Colony, Siodia claimed to The Indian Express (IE) of December 19, 2016. "It is the most approachable party. The Shiv Sena is open to all communities, not just to Marathi people. It represents all communities and helps (them) all.” Having been active with the party for three years, Siodia was elevated as deputy shakha pramukh last year. The private tutor, who also runs a transport business, describes the party as "non-communal and non-orthodox.”
Another Sainik, Merion Damania, 21, a law student and teacher, told the newspaper that Shiv "Sainiks are available for people at all hours. We see some political parties supervising road works and footpath repairs two months before elections, then abandoning these places later. That is never the case with the Sena,” Damania informed IE. Defending the party’s pro-Hindutva stance, he stated they are "not against any community. There is nothing wrong in taking pride in your religion… When I tell people I’m supporting the Sena, they think something is wrong with me. It’s not me but they who need to open their eyes.”
"People used to think that Sainiks would come and start collecting hafta or engage in hooliganism. They didn’t know about the party’s social work,” Rashid Khan who started the Arab Gully shakha told the newspaper.
As far back as 1972, a Darab Ghadiali was appointed the first ever Parsi shakha pramukh of the Fort area, IE notes. In 1996, Parvez Damania, then chairman of Damania Airways, was the Shiv Sena candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.
A senior Sena leader told IE, "Like cosmopolitan Bombay, the Sena is also becoming more cosmopolitan with the induction of all communities into the party fold.” Members of the Sena today come from all communities in Bombay — Muslims, Mangalorians, Christians — a factor that is likely to be reflected in the forthcoming elections for the Bombay Municipal Corporation.
Describing the change, IE writes: "The new Shiv Sainik in Bombay is a simple young-to-middle-aged resident of the megapolis, belonging to any of the city’s multiple communities, wooed and nurtured by the party for his or her willingness to put in long hours of attending to local residents’ complaints and needs, capable of some hustling for support when required, and not concerned of the party’s ‘for Maharashtrians-only’ tag.”
There is another school of thought that maintains that the party cannot really change. In the past the Sena has targeted all the communities from South Indians to Muslims, North Indians and Gujaratis, IE reports.