Calling Shivaji a “revered deity” for his party and its members, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (August 30) apologised for the collapse of the king’s statue at the Rajkot Fort in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district.
“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not just a king but our aaradhya dev [revered deity],” he said at a public event in Palghar, on the outskirts of Mumbai.
Modi was in town for the launch of the Rs 76,000 crore Vadhvan Port project.
In December last year, Modi had inaugurated the 35-foot statue of Shivaji in coastal Maharashtra. Less than nine months later, the statue collapsed on Monday.
The collapse of a statue of Shivaji, who is revered across party lines in Maharashtra, just months before the assembly elections is not good news for the BJP-led Mahayuti government in the state.
Any attempts at damage control have only mired the BJP in further controversy, leaving them red-faced.
Soon after the incident, the opposition swiftly criticised the government and demanded accountability.
The statue was built in BJP leader Narayan Rane’s home turf. Traditionally, the seat belonged to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, but in this year’s parliamentary election, Thackeray’s Sena lost the seat to Rane.
After the statue’s collapse, Aaditya Thackeray rushed to the spot. Workers from Thackeray’s faction and Rane’s men clashed at the scene, leading to commotion. The police failed to disperse the crowd.
Rane was seen threatening Mahavikas Aghadi (the alliance comprising Thackeray’s Sena, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress party) leaders on camera with “dire consequences”. He even went so far as to issue death threats to the parties’ leaders and their workers.
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tried to shift blame onto the navy, suggesting that “those responsible for its [the statue’s] construction and installation might have overlooked crucial factors like high wind speeds and compromised on the quality of materials used.”
However, the FIR registered soon after the statue’s collapse on Monday suggests otherwise. Maharashtra’s public works department (PWD) named contractor Jaydeep Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil in the FIR, and both have been arrested.
Chief minister Eknath Shinde initially blamed the navy but later apologised. He even announced that a “larger statue” would be erected at the same spot.
Although Ajit Pawar is part of the current government, he distanced himself from the other two leaders and staged a protest condemning the incident. He also “demanded” strict action against those responsible for the collapse.
Interestingly, Ajit Pawar is also a deputy chief minister in the present government.
But at the Vadhvan port inauguration on Friday, leaders from all three parties of the Mahayuti were present, where they spoke in sync and praised Modi for “ensuring that Maharashtra progressed” by building the country’s largest container port in the state.
The Vadhvan port launch event was seen as a significant pre-poll outreach program for the BJP and its allies — the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. The port has been in talks since 1997 and has faced pushback from the local fishing community. Thackeray has for long been in support of the fisherfolk opposing the project.
The Vadhavan port inauguration was hijacked by the statue collapse. Every leader who spoke at the event invoked Shivaji, with Modi using the opportunity to politicise the incident.
He claimed that his party’s culture is such that when a mistake happens, he and his party members are willing to apologise.
“I also extend my apologies to all those who worship Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as their revered deity. I know their sentiments are hurt too,” he added.
Modi also invoked Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, claiming that the opposition has repeatedly insulted the “great patriot” and refused to apologise for it.
Without naming the Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, Modi referred to an incident where Gandhi criticised Savarkar in a speech before the Indian diaspora in London in March 2023.
Gandhi’s refusal to apologise for his statements led to a criminal defamation suit being filed against him in Pune.
Modi remarked that “opposition leaders are ready to face court cases but refuse to apologise”.
(This article was first published in The Wire)
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