A brand new legislation to punish those that communicate ailing of Shivaji: CM at Raigad Fort
MUMBAI: A legislation, a textual content, a nationwide monument: Shivaji obtained quite a few presents at Raigad Fort on Saturday.
Throughout his go to to the erstwhile capital of the Maratha empire, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis introduced that he intends to usher in a legislation that can penalise those that insult icons of Maharashtra, significantly the Maratha warrior king.
He additionally introduced plans to fee a typical historical past of Shivaji that will guarantee his story couldn’t be “twisted by anybody else”. And he declared plans to develop the primary nationwide memorial to the Maratha warrior king, in New Delhi.
“We’re all the view that those that insult our idols and Shivaji Maharaj ought to be thrown from Takmak Tok (a excessive level at Raigad Fort, from the place such executions had been as soon as carried out), however we stay in a democracy and thus a legislation will likely be framed in consonance with the democracy,” the chief minister mentioned.
His go to, by the way, got here within the wake of Shivaji’s 345th loss of life anniversary. Raigad Fort is the place the Maratha king was topped emperor in 1674, and the place he died, on April 3, 1680.
Fadnavis’s declarations additionally come within the wake of heated controversy over the legacy of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb vis-à-vis the Maratha rulers. This row started when Samajwadi Get together chief Abu Asim Azmi made a remark a couple of not too long ago launched Hindi movie, Chhaava. The movie depicted the seize, torture and execution of Shivaji’s son and successor, Sambhaji, on the orders of Aurangzeb. Azmi dismissed the portrayal, saying Aurangzeb had not been a merciless ruler. He had been a “good administrator”, he mentioned.
The row that adopted noticed influential Marathi voices raised on either side of the controversy.
Amid all of it, BJP member of Parliament Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendant of the Shivaji household, demanded a legislation to penalise these making disrespectful statements towards the warrior king.
With Union residence minister and BJP chief Amit Shah current at Raigad Fort on Saturday, chief minister Fadnavis went a step additional. “I wish to request the house minister that there ought to be a nationwide memorial of Shivaji Maharaj, for which we’ll come to you (in New Delhi) and along with your assistance will establish an acceptable place and develop the memorial,” Fadnavis mentioned.
He additionally addressed the delays in constructing a proposed memorial to Shivaji within the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Mumbai. “The case was caught within the Supreme Court docket however now the apex court docket has transferred it to the Bombay Excessive Court docket. As Mavlas of Maharaj (Troopers of Shivaji), we won’t quit and can get the clearances required. We are going to attempt to develop the memorial at any price,” he mentioned.
Within the state finances offered on March 10, the state authorities had introduced plans to construct quite a few memorials, together with to Shivaji and Sambhaji. One in all these, the proposal states, might be in Agra, the place Shivaji was held captive by Aurangzeb.
