The controversy triggered by American author James W Laine six years ago over Dadoji Konddeo, the Brahmin teacher of Chhatrapati Shivaji, has once again erupted into a battleground for political opportunism in Maharashtra.
Keen to project itself as the champion of the Marathas by taking the lead in erasing all historical references to Konddev, the NCP-led Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) passed a resolution on Saturday and surreptiously removed Konddev’s statue from a composite sculpture in the Lal Mahal around 2.30am on Monday. The sculpture showed a young Shivaji with a golden plough, his mother Jijabai and Konddev.
Ever since the controversy over Laine’s book, Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India, the Sambhaji Brigade and other parties representing the Marathas have been demanding the historical downsizing of Konddev. The removal of the statue took place against this backdrop and provoked a violent response from the Shiv Sena and the BJP, which has a strong Brahmin following.
Slamming the move, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray promised to restore the statue in its original place. “His (Konddev’s) statue was removed from Lal Mahal as if he was a terrorist. The PMC’s act is completely objectionable,’’ he said, adding if the Congress and the NCP were really keen on removing unauthorised structures, they should show the same urgency in case of Lavasa and rest of the unauthorised structures in Pune. He criticised the NCP for giving unnecessary importance to organisations like Sambhaji Brigade.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray has charged the Congress-NCP coalition with playing caste politics. “The coalition (Congress-NCP) has used this issue to divert the people’s attention from more important topics such as price rise. They are maligning the image of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,” he said. The MNS would launch an agitation if the situation so warranted, he added.
However, the Sambhaji Brigade, which had been seeking the removal of the statue, said, “The issue is not about Dadoji’s statue, but about presenting wrong history. We challenge, out opponents to prove their side, with the help of documents. If they succeed we will be more than happy to join them. But they are not doing this. On the contrary, we have proved with the help of documents that Dadoji was never the guru of Shivaji,” said Pravin Gaikwad, leader of Sambhaji Brigade.
