Mumbai: The collapse of Maratha icon Chhatrapati Shivaji’s statue has given fresh ammunition to the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ahead of the Maharashtra polls and a new lease of life to the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) in its bastion of Konkan, which it had lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha polls.
On Wednesday, an altercation took place between the MVA and the Mahayuti leaders and workers when Aghadi leaders Aaditya Thackeray, Vijay Waddettiwar, Jayant Patil were present at Malvan’s Rajkot fort where the Shivaji statue had collapsed two days ago.
As Aaditya Thackeray reached the spot when Rane was departing, their supporters clashed as a result of which the police could escort the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and his entourage out of the fort only after 2 hours of the melee.
“The corruption in the BJP government has no boundaries. They just want credit for everything but all of their work is collapsing. How can the contract of Shivaji Maharaj be given to a young inexperienced boy? The Statue of Liberty has been standing tall for 138 years, but this statue fell down in just 8 months,” questioned Aaditya Thackeray.
In the Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Narayan Rane defeated Vinayak Raut of Sena (UBT). The BJP retained Konkan Graduates seat for the third time in the MLC elections held subsequently.
“This is definitely an opportunity for the Shiv Sena (UBT) to gain some ground in Konkan. Konkan and Mumbai have been Sena’s strength all these years. But for the past few years, the BJP was trying to make good inroads into Konkan. Though Rane is limited to Sindhudurg, be it Ravindra Chavan (PWD minister and guardian minister) or others, the BJP has tried to expand its base in Konkan,” political analyst Hemant Desai told ThePrint.
“But today’s incident is an opportunity for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena to once again become aggressive in the region.”
“With Aaditya Thackeray’s aggressive stand Wednesday, this has given a new lease of life to Shiv Sainiks in Konkan, which was slipping away from them to BJP,” Desai added.
The opposition MVA has announced to hold a protest against the Mahayuti government on 1 September.
“Just to take credit, the statue was inaugurated in haste. We even have the inputs that there was corruption in the tender process of building the statue. It is now getting disgusting,” Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray told a press conference Wednesday.
At the same press conference in Mumbai, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar blamed the ruling government for not taking up the responsibility. “It is 100 percent responsibility of the state government. Corruption has reached its peak,” he said.
But, BJP’s Narayan Rane has lashed out at the Opposition, saying that the MVA is doing politics over a sensitive matter.
“Just because there are elections round the corner, the MVA is doing politics. They don’t have any other topic to talk about in this region and that is why MVA leaders came here. Till today, these leaders never came here to bow down in front of the statue… Has any of these leaders ever installed a statue? And what proof do they have that there was corruption in the making of this statue? We don’t want to do any politics,” Rane said.
Another political analyst Pratap Asbe said it was but natural that the MVA would politicise when the ruling parties take the same route.
“Already the Mahayuti is in the negative… This was clear from the Lok Sabha elections, but because of certain populist schemes, they had earned some points. But the Badlapur incident and now this incident, will be a big point for the MVA to pick it up. Shivaji Maharaj is the pride of Maharashtra,” Asbe told ThePrint.
A revered figure in Maharashtra, Shivaji occupies a central position in Maharashtra’s politics. Some of the well-known public landmarks like the Mumbai airport, the CST railway station and Shivaji Park are named after the founder of the Maratha kingdom.
Politicians, including PM Narendra Modi, have time and again invoked Shivaji’s legacy and his ideals and hailed Maharashtra as the land of ‘Shiv-Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar’.
During the 350th anniversary of the coronation of the Maratha warrior king at Raigad fort, PM Modi in a video message said Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj epitomises courage and his life as well as ideals are a source of inspiration.
Bahujan Samaj reveres the Maratha warrior king, Asbe said. “A lot of pride is attached to his name in the state, and he belongs to all.”
The now-collapsed statue was inaugurated by Modi on 4 December, 2023, on Navy Day, as a part of the BJP’s strategy to appropriate the legacy of Shivaji. However, within 8 months of inauguration, the 35 ft statue, built at a cost of nearly Rs 3 crore, ended with a fall.
“This has hurt the people of Maharashtra badly. It raises questions on the quality of work that went into making this statue,” Asbe said.
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Aftermath of the collapse
On Monday, the police booked the sculptor and the structural consultant under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to attempt to commit culpable homicide, act endangering the life or personal safety of others, attempt to murder, and cheating.
The Mahayuti government has blamed winds and later the sculptor for the mishap. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had said the statue was designed and constructed by the Indian Navy.
Even as the Indian Navy on Tuesday said it deputed a team to investigate the cause of the “unfortunate accident”, the MVA leaders questioned the government’s explanation blaming the winds for the collapse.
“If the government is blaming the wind, then at least two-three trees around it would have fallen. But nothing like that happened, that means the quality of the statue was poor,” said Jayant Patil of Sharad Pawar’s NCP.
Now, the MVA has planned a ‘morcha (front)’ on Sunday against the Mahayuti government and is working towards a strategy to further expose its alleged corruption.
“The Mahayuti government is drowned in corruption—be it the Atal Setu cracks, or highway conditions, potholes on roads. They have no respect for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It is all about ‘ladka contractor (favoured contactors)’ and we will expose them. Our leaders are working towards it,” a MVA leader told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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