Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Bureau
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, asserting that the act of bowing to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is meaningless in the face of the government’s actions that he claims undermine democracy and the nation’s institutions.
Gandhi made these remarks during a public meeting before unveiling a 35-foot statue of the Maratha empire’s founder, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in Kolhapur, a city in western Maharashtra.
The event comes in the wake of a controversy surrounding the recent collapse of another statue of Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot fort in the Sindhudurg district, which Gandhi leveraged to criticize the ruling party’s ideology.
“There is no use of bowing before Shivaji Maharaj after scaring people, destroying the Constitution and institutions in the country,” Gandhi stated, directly referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s earlier comments regarding the statue.
PM Modi had publicly apologised for the statue’s collapse, expressing reverence for Shivaji Maharaj and stating, “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not just a name or a king. For us, he is our deity. Today, I bow my head at his feet and apologise to my deity,” during his visit to Maharashtra on August 30.
The statue that Gandhi unveiled, which fell on August 26, was originally unveiled by Modi during a ceremony on December 4, 2023, coinciding with Navy Day celebrations.
In his address, Gandhi highlighted the significance of Shivaji Maharaj’s legacy, asserting that his message represents inclusivity and that the nation belongs to all its citizens.
He emphasised the connection between the ideals embodied by Shivaji Maharaj and the Indian Constitution, stating, “The Indian Constitution is a manifestation of what the warrior king stood for. If people like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Shahu Maharaj were not there, the Constitution also would not have been there.”
