The story so far: “I bow my head and apologise,” said Prime Minster Narendra Modi on Friday (August 30, 2024), at an event in Palghar, in response to the outrage over the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. “For me, my colleagues, and everyone, Shivaji Maharaj is not just a king but a revered figure... Today, I bow my head at his feet and apologise to my deity,” said Mr. Modi.
The Opposition has accused the ruling BJP-led coalition (Mahayuti) of ‘insulting’ the Maratha emperor.
Mr. Modi inaugurated the 35-foot statue on December 4 last year as part of Navy Day celebrations at the fort. It fell on August 26 amid heavy rain and gusty winds in the area. Two State committees are investigating the exact reason for the statue’s collapse. A structural consultant has been arrested in Kolhapur and efforts to rebuild the statue are under way.
Assuring action against the statue’s constructor, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said, “Whether it’s officials or contractors, those responsible will face action. Shivaji Maharaj is our revered icon. I extend my heartfelt apologies to the 13 crore people of Maharashtra for this incident,” after visiting the site. His peer and Deputy CM Devendra Fandavis chided the Opposition for politicising the issue, adding, “The construction of the statue was not overseen by the State government but by the Navy.”
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar inspects the site where the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue collapsed, at Malvan in Sindhudurg on August 30, 2024. | Photo Credit: ANI
The Opposition coalition (Maha Vikas Aghadi) – comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP) and the Congress – have accused the Mahayuti government of rampant corruption. While Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has dismissed ‘strong winds’ as the reason behind the statue’s collapse, NCP-SP patriarch Sharad Pawar has accused the State government of attempting to shift the blame to the Navy, reminding them that permissions had been sought from the State.
The 17th-century Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is a revered icon in Maharashtra, known for his expansion of the Maratha empire and the Swarajya movement. Every political party in Maharashtra has attempted to co-opt the ruler’s legacy, be it Hindutvawadi parties such as the BJP or the Shiv Sena, who have focussed on the Maratha king’s ideal of ‘Hindavi Swajya’ (self-rule of Hindus), or the Congress and the NCP for his Maratha identity. Even the AIMIM – a party that promotes Muslims and other minorities – lauds Shivaji Raje (as he is referred to in Marathi) for his pro-poor ideals, insisting that the king was not anti-Islam. Throughout Maharashtra’s political history, Shivaji has been a sensitive topic, in which leaders have often claimed ‘insult’ on his behalf or laid claim to his legacy.
Here’s a look at the Maratha emperor’s knotty relationship with Maharashtra politics.
Shivaji and freedom fighters
In the pre-Independence era, Maharashtrian freedom fighters such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Jyotirao Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar invoked the Maratha emperor to instill national pride among citizens, unite them towards the freedom cause and emulate his actions in fighting for independence.
In 1869, Jyotirao Phule (known as Mahatma Phule) wrote and published ‘Shiv Charitra’, a collection of poems in Marathi extolling Shivaji’s legacy, and distributed it to locals. He also discovered Shivaji’s samadhi (memorial) built by his son Sambhaji, while walking from Pune to Raigad Fort, 100 kms away. In 1870, he began the practice of celebrating Shiv Jayanti on February 19 to mark the birth of Shivaji at Raigad Fort.
A man worships the Shivaji Maharaj Statue on Raigad fort. File | Photo Credit: ?Emmanual Yogini
In 1895, Bal Gangadhar Tilak (known as Lokmanya Tilak) who began public celebrations of Ganesh Utsav, also made Shiv Jayanti a public celebration. By turning it into a community event, Tilak encouraged the general public to be inspired by the warrior, take pride in India and unite for the freedom struggle. Moreover, the religious nature of the gathering made it difficult for the British to ban such meetings. Apart from Shiv Jayanti, Tilak also invoked Shivaji in his magazines, Kesari and Mahratta, to criticise the British government on a range of matters including taxation, women harassment of women, cow slaughter and famine.
The Father of the Indian Constitution, Dr. Ambedkar, has often referred to Shivaji Maharaj in his speeches to instill national pride among the people and in his writings often talked about his heritage. In his 1946 book Who are the Shudras?, Dr. Ambedkar spoke about how Shivaji was perceived as a ‘Shudra’ (untouchable) by the Brahmins and Marathas in his court and had to employ the services of Gangabhat, a Varanasi-based Brahmin scholar, to perform his coronation in 1674.
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, chairman, with other members of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly of India, on 29 August 1947. Photo: Wikimedia commons
In Dr. Ambedkar’s speech at the Constituent Assembly in 1949, the Dalit leader bemoaned how Shivaji’s fight for liberation of Hindus from Mughal rule faced hurdles because his own fellow kings – other Rajputs and Marathas – fought on the side of the Mughals. He argued that treachery by insiders was ‘our old standing enemy,’ adding, “If the people do not put nation above their creed and caste, our independence would be lost again.”
RSS and Shivaji
India’s largest Hindu organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — the BJP’s ideological parent — has always revered the Maratha emperor. The Sangh’s second Sarasanghachalak (chief) M.S. Golwalkar, in his book Bunch of Thoughts, extols Shivaji’s many virtues that must be emulated by Indians – duty to country, rooted ideals in Hindu epics, striving to establish Hindu Swaraj and respect for women. He also laments the many ‘traitor kings’ who sided with the Mughals against Shivaji, dismissing the need for Hindu-Muslim unity for India’s independence.
His thoughts form the bedrock of the ideology of the RSS, which celebrates Hindu Samrajya Divas every year to mark the Emperor’s coronation. The group’s top leadership, including Mohan Bhagwat and Dattatreya Hosabale, have often lamented that the Maratha king has been overlooked, and insist that he remains relevant in the present times, which “remain fraught with dangers both foreign and domestic.” The RSS has also been at the forefront of those asserting Shivaji’s ‘proud Hindu’ tag, dismissing attempts by social and liberal leaders to paint the Maratha warrior as ‘secular.’
Shivaji and Bal Thackeray
Cartoonist-turned-politician Bal Keshav Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena on June 5, 1966. Named by his father Keshav (Prabodhankar) Thackeray, ‘Shiv Sena’ literally meant ‘army of Shivaji Maharaj’ and was created to fight for the ‘Marathi manoos’ (common Marathi man). In its initial years, Mr. Thackeray used the Sena to fight against what he viewed as a bias towards south Indians, claiming that local Marathi-speaking citizens were being discriminated against for jobs in Mumbai.
As the Shiv Sena’s influence spread across Maharashtra, its workers became notorious for their vandalism and attacks on non-Marathi migrants, media houses and Opposition parties. Mr. Thackeray, who never held an elected position, used the Shiv Sena’s ‘shakhas’ (branches) for Marathi people to air grievances against the government and ‘mete out justice,’ inspired by Shivaji’s Janata Darbar.
File photo: Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray gets ready to enact a scene from a play “Janata Raja” on the life of Shivaji the great Maratha Warrior. | Photo Credit: PTI
With the rise of Hindutva and the demand for a Ram temple on the disputed Ayodhya land, Mr. Thackeray launched the party mouthpiece Saamana in 1989, which propogated pro-Hindu views and often quoted Shivaji’s ideals of ‘Hindavi Swaraj’ and Marathi pride.
In 1992, Mr. Thackeray proudly declared that his Shiv Sainiks were involved in bringing down the domes of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, publishing the same in Saamana. His open support for the Babri demolition, his role in the Mumbai riots, his expression of Hindutva and Marathi pride via Saamana, and his work for the Marathi people earned him the moniker ’Hindu Hriday Samrat,’ a title which had also been given to Shivaji by his subjects.
Renaming places
In 1995, the Sena and the BJP formed their first State government, with Thackeray’s close aide Manohar Joshi taking oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister. Within months, the State’s capital Bombay was renamed as Mumbai – after Mumbadevi, the local deity said to protect the fishermen. Similarly, the city’s civic body was renamed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in 1996 and Mumbai’s largest railway station — Victoria Terminus — was renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
During the Sena-BJP tenure in Maharashtra and at the Centre (1995-2004), the saffron allies also renamed several iconic structures in Mumbai, as well as airports and railway station to shed their colonial-era identities. Choosing to pay tribute to the Maratha emperor, the domestic and international airports in Mumbai’s Santacruz and Sahar area were renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport in 1999.
In 2000, the Prince of Wales Museum, which houses one of the largest collections of historic artefacts in India, was renamed Chatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sanghrahalya by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. All these names were further tweaked to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 2017 by the Modi government, in accordance with Shiv Sena’s demand to “respect the Maratha Emperor properly.”
A view of CSMT station. File
A longstanding demand of the Shiv Sena— since 1988 — was to rename Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar to honour Shivaji’s son Sambhaji, the second emperor of the Maratha kingdom. After Sena won the Aurangabad Municipal elections in 1988, Mr. Thackeray announced the renaming, but his declaration was fulfilled only in 2022 by the Eknath Shinde government. The city has now been renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and its airport is called Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj airport. Last year, the Maharashtra Cabinet approved the official renaming of Ahmednagar to ‘Ahilyanagar’, after Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar.
Renaming Aurangabad, which has a sizeable Muslim population, has been dicey and was avoided for a long time by both the Sena and the BJP in fear of public outrage. During Uddhav Thackeray’s tenure, though the party chief reiterated his commitment to Hindutva and Shivaji’s ideals, he stopped short of renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad as his allies, the Congress and the NCP, opposed it. The BJP has often accused the younger Thackeray of betraying Shivaji and Hindutva after he sought to sever ties with them and ally with the secular Congress-NCP duo to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Shivaji’s descendents
The Maratha warrior’s descendents have long been associated with Maharashtra politics.
The Kolhapur royal family’s heir Sambhaji Raje unsuccessfully contested from Kolhapur in 2009 on NCP ticket. After he switched allegiance to the BJP, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 by the then President Pranab Mukerjee. His brother has been a Congress MLA from Kolhapur between 2004 and 2009. His father Shahu Chhatrapati, the current titular king of Kolhapur and close ally of NCP founder Sharad Pawar, recently won the Kolhapur Lok Sabha seat on Congress ticket.
Another Shivaji descendent, Udayanraje Bhonsale, has been involved in politics for a long time. He was a Minister of State from 1998-99 In the first Sena-BJP government, and later NCP Lok Sabha MP from Satara between 2009 and 2019. After being elected on NCP ticket, he switched allegiance to the BJP but lost the next election to the NCP’s Shriniwas Patil. In 2020, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the BJP.
All these politicians have been vocal on the demand for 18% reservation for Marathas in State jobs and institutes, having close ties with activist Manoj Jarange Patil.
Raj Thackeray and Shivaji
Aping his firebrand uncle Bal Thackeray, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has often politicised the Maratha emperor. In 2005, when he first launched his outfit, he opposed the Shiv Smarak – a 250-foot proposed statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji off the Arabian coast in Mumbai’s Marine Drive area. He pointed out that the project was architecturally and ecologically impossible and an economic drain on State funds. He urged the State government to renovate the various forts of the Maratha dynasty instead – a stance maintained till date by the Thackeray scion and the MNS.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray at a rally in Mumbai. File | Photo Credit: PTI
In 2020, Raj Thackeray relaunched his party’s flag, opting to feature the ‘Shivmudra,’ Shivaji’s royal seal, on a saffron background. The MNS shifted from its earlier ‘Maharashtra-based’ focus to a more Hindutva-based approach, and Mr. Raj Thackeray hinted at allying with the BJP amid the Sena-BJP fallout. However, with the split of the Shiv Sena and Eknath Shinde being elevated as Chief Minister, the MNS chief limited his ties with the BJP to ‘unconditional support’ during the Lok Sabha polls.
Recently, at an Aurangabad rally in 2022, the MNS chief created a controversy by claiming that Shivaji’s memorial in Raigad was built by Lokamanya Tilak and not Mahatma Phule. Both Tilak’s family and Phule’s trust have debunked these claims. Shivaji’s descendants too have chided Mr. Thackeray for making such false claims.
Shiv Smarak
In 2004, the Congress-NCP government announced its intention to build ‘Shiv Smarak,’ a monument depicting Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj off Mumbai’s Girgaum Chowpatty beach on a man-made island. Since then, subsequent governments have promised to complete the project. In 2016, Mr. Modi also performed its stone-laying ceremony but the project is yet to take off. Competing to be the world’s tallest statue – bigger than China’s Spring Temple Buddha - the budget for the project was increased to ?3,800 crore in 2016.
Proposed plan of Shiv Smarak. Photo: Special Arrangement
The Statue of Unity – an ode to Sardar Vallabhai Patel – is the tallest in India and the project’s estimate was reworked to ?2,500 crore. The Shiv Sena, which then ruled the BMC, vowed that it would lengthen the Maratha emperor’s sword to surpass the Statue of Unity in height, thereby making it the tallest. In 2019, the State government had to pause the work due to a plea by the Conservation Action Trust (CAT) in the Supreme Court challenging the project.
With the collapse of the Sindhudurg Shivaji statue, the Opposition has intensified its attack on the Mahayuti government, holding a ‘Jode Maro Andolan’ (hit with slippers movement) in Mumbai.
Ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray even dismissed Mr. Modi’s apology, saying, “For what was the Prime Minister apologising? For the statue he inaugurated eight months ago? For the corruption involved? The MVA cadre must work together to defeat the forces that have insulted Shivaji Maharaj”.
In response, Mr. Shinde has criticised the Sena (UBT) chief, saying, “People of Maharashtra have shown him [Mr. Thackeray] his place two years ago. You take the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj but deeds are Aurangzebi and Afzal Khani.” Despite the Shiv Sena splitting into two, both factions continue to accuse each other of ‘insulting’ Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj – a unifying political icon in Maharashtra.
