Panipat (Haryana), Jan 14 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Tuesday stressed the need to set aside differences on the lines of region, caste and language and unite under the Indian tricolour to realise the dream of a developed nation by 2047.
Addressing the ‘Shaurya Divas’ event here to commemorate the valour of the Marathas at the Battle of Panipat of 1761, Fadnavis said the Marathas were on a winning streak against Ahmed Shah Abdali but had to face defeat as local kings could not unite to fight for Hindavi Swaraj established by Chhatrapati Shivaji.
“Had we been united then, we would have been safe (uss samay bhi agar hum ek hote, toh safe hote),” Fadnavis said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘ek hai toh safe hai’ slogan during Maharashtra elections last year.
“But, we were not united back then and were not safe and ruled by outsiders,” he said.
The Maharashtra chief minister said, “Just as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj brought us together under the saffron flag, similarly the need of the hour now is to unite under the saffron flag and the Tricolour.” He said lessons should be learnt from the Battle of Panipat, identify the enemies of the nation and unite as Indians to realise Prime Minister Modi’s dream of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.
Fadnavis said the Marathas were defeated in the Battle of Panipat in 1761, but Mahadji Shinde returned a decade later to win Delhi and establish the supremacy of the Maratha empire.
He recalled that the Hindavi Swaraj established by Chhatrapati Shivaji was further nurtured by his son Chhatrapati Sambhaji. Under the Peshwas, the Hindavi Swaraj expanded from Cuttack in present-day Odisha to Attock in Afghanistan to protect religion, nation and culture, Fadnavis said.
The chief minister announced that a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji would be erected at Panipat and a grand memorial would be built at the site where the battle was fought.
Union Ministers Prataprao Jadhav and Raksha Khadse, former union minister Rao Saheb Danve, and Maharashtra Minister Jaykumar Raval were present at the event organised by Shaurya Memorial Trust. PTI SKU SKU NSD NSD NSD
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