NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed BJP over the collapse of Shivaji Maharaj’s statue in Kolhapur stating that “their ideology is not right.”
Addressing a public meeting before unveiling the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Kolhapur Rahul Gandhi said, “The Congress party today is fighting against the same ideology that Shivaji Maharaj fought against. They (BJP) made a statue of Shivaji Maharaj and after a few days, the statue broke and fell down.Their intention was wrong and the statue gave them a message that if you want to make a statue of Shivaji Maharaj, then you have to protect the ideology of Shivaji Maharaj. That is why the statue fell down because their ideology is wrong.”
“They did not allow the tribal President to attend the inauguration of Ram Mandir and Parliament… This is not a political fight, this is a fight of ideology,” he added.
The leader of opposition asserted that, “There is no use of bowing before Shivaji Maharaj after scaring people and destroying Constitution, institutions.”
A statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, unveiled around nine months ago on December 4 last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Navy Day at Rajkot Fort at Malvan in Sindhudurg district, collapsed on August 26. The fall of the statue triggered a massive political firestorm in the state as opposition slammed the state government, alleging it had paid little attention to the quality of work.
The Congress MP in the Lok Sabha further continued on the direct link between Shivaji Maharaj’s thoughts and the Constitution, arguing that without the contributions of great personalities like Shivaji Maharaj and Shahuji Maharaj, the Constitution would not have come into existence.
“Shivaji Maharaj had said that the country belongs to everyone. We have to move ahead taking along everyone, there should be no injustice. There’s a direct connection between Shivaji Maharaj’s thoughts and our Constitution. The Constitution is based on his thoughts. The Constitution wouldn’t have been there if people like Shivaji Maharaj, Shahuji Maharaj wouldn’t have been there,” Rahul said.
“In India, there’s a struggle between two ideologies. One ideology protects this (Constitution), talks about equality, unity. This is Shivaji Maharaj’s ideology. And the other ideology is working to finish the Constitution,” the Congress leader.
“Indian Constitution is a manifestation of what Shivaji Maharaj stood for,” he added.
PM Modi had earlier apologised for the collapse of the statue on August 30 and had said that, “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not just a name for me, for us Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is our idol. Whatever happened in Sindhudurg a few days ago…today I bow and place my head at the feet of my beloved god Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and apologise.”
The Maharashtra Assembly, consisting of 288 seats, is set to hold elections later this year, although the Election Commission of India has not yet officially declared the polling dates.
The forthcoming Maharashtra election will witness a political battle between two major alliances: the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which includes the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress, and the Maha Yuti Alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).