- Thursday, December 26, 2024
The Congress leader unveiled a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Maratha empire, in Kolhapur city
By: Shajil Kumar
CONGRESS leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked the BJP government, saying there was no use of bowing before Shivaji Maharaj after scaring people, destroying the Constitution and institutions in the country.
Gandhi on Saturday unveiled a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Maratha empire, in Kolhapur city of western Maharashtra.
Addressing a public meeting before unveiling the statue, Gandhi slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the collapse of the statue of the warrior king at Rajkot fort in Sindhudurg district, and said the party’s ideology is not right.
“There is no use of bowing before bowing before Shivaji Maharaj after scaring people, destroying the Constitution and institutions in the country,” Gandhi said.
His comments were apparently targeted at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had apologised to Shivaji Maharaj and those hurt by the collapse of his statue.
“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,” Modi had said on August 30 during his visit to Maharashtra.
The 35-foot statue, which fell on August 26, was unveiled by the PM on December 4, 2023, on the occasion of Navy Day.
“There are two ideologies in the country – one which protects the Constitution that talks of equality and unity. This is Shivaji Maharaj’s ideology. The second ideology is the one that is into destroying the Constitution,” Gandhi said.
“They get up in the morning and plan how to destroy the Constitution, which is based on the ideals of the Shivaji Maharaj. They attack the institutions of the country, scare and threaten people and then bow before Shivaji’s statue. There is no use of it. If you pray before Shivaji’s statue, then you have to protect the Constitution,” Gandhi said.
He said the intentions are visible and cannot be hidden.
“They built Shivaji Maharaj’s statue and in a few days it collapsed. Their intentions were not right. The statue gave them the message that if you built Shivaji Maharaj’s statue then you have to follow his ideals. Which is why the statue collapsed because their ideology is wrong,” he said.
When Shivaji Maharaj was to be coronated, it was the same ideology that did not allow his coronation. This is not new, he said.
“This is the same ideology that Shivaji Maharaj fought with. Congress is fighting with the same ideology that Shivaji Maharaj fought with,” Gandhi added.
Chhatrapati Shivaji’s message to the world was that the country belongs to everyone. The Constitution is a symbol of his ideals, he said.
“If people like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and social reformer Shahu Maharaj were not there, the Constitution also would not have existed,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
50 per cent cap on reservation
Rahul Gandhi said removing the existing 50 per cent cap on reservation is necessary to protect the Constitution.
Speaking at the ‘Samvidhan Samman Sammelan’ here, he also said the Congress and the INDIA bloc will ensure passage of laws to remove this 50 per cent limit.
“We will ensure the passage of law on caste census in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and no power can stop it,” he said.
The history of Dalits or backward classes was not being taught in schools, he said, alleging that efforts are now being made to erase that history.
On his arrival in Kolhapur this morning, Gandhi was welcomed by top Congress leaders in Maharashtra, including the party’s state unit chief Nana Patole, former minister Balasaheb Thorat.
Gandhi also interacted with Ajit Sandhe, a tempo driver.
Meanwhile, BJP workers staged a protest and showed black flags to Gandhi over his remarks on freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar.
Pune court summons
A special court in Pune has summoned Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case filed by the grandnephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, accusing the Congress leader of making objectionable remarks against the Hindutva ideologue.
The court issued the summons to Gandhi on Friday, asking him to appear before it on October 23.
Last year, Savarkar’s grandnephew, Satyaki Savarkar, had lodged a complaint against the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha in this connection in a Pune court. Last month, the case was transferred to the special court for MPs and MLAs from the Judicial Magistrate First Class (FMFC) court.
In his complaint, Satyaki Savarkar alleged that Gandhi, in his speech made in London in March 2023, claimed that V D Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy.
Satyaki Savarkar said no such incident ever took place, and that V D Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere. He termed Gandhi’s allegation as “fictitious, false, and malicious”. (PTI)
