Congress leader Nana Patole on Friday accused the Maharashtra government of selling out the state's heritage by leasing out Chhatrapati Shivaji's forts to private players and demanded an immediate rollback of the decision.
Raising strong objections to the state cabinet's decision, he said the Kisan Congress will launch an agitation across the state and make it a poll issue.
He also alleged that the Maharashtra government which is in debt of over Rs 5 lakh crore now wants to raise resources by selling out the state's rich heritage.
"The Maharashtra government cabinet has decided to lease out forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji for tourism purposes. The Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is selling out the state's heritage. We will not tolerate this attempt to hurt the sentiments of people who respect Shivaji. The government should reverse its decision," Patole told reporters here.
"The Maharashtra government is in debt of Rs 5 lakh crore and is now seeking to generate resources by selling out the state's resources and heritage," the chairman of Kisan Congress said.
Patole said forts created by Shivaji are the state's heritage and should be preserved instead of being handed over to private players.
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"Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is like Bajirao 2, who was out to demolish the legacy of Shivaji. The decision taken by his government is disregarding the legacy of Shivaji and aims at ending it," he said.
The Congress leader, who was earlier a BJP MP in Lok Sabha and had switched over, said such a decision to eradicate Shivaji's legacy was done during the British era and during Aurangzeb's rule in India.
"The Fadnavis government is doing the same. The government should clarify its position on this and should reverse its decision," he said.
He said the "cash-strapped" government plans to lease out forts developed by Shivaji to private players, who will exploit them and convert them into hotels for generating money in the name of tourism.
Patole said the work of developing the forts of Shivaji should have been done by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) that could have helped educate the younger generation about the rich Maratha heritage.
"We intend to carry out an agitation in all districts of the state soon and will make this a poll issue in upcoming assembly elections. We will also include this issue in our poll manifesto for state assembly elections," he said.
On September 3, the state cabinet had decided to lease out around 25 forts in Maharashtra to private players.
As the first step in this direction, the MTDC identified about 25 forts across the state that will be offered to heritage hoteliers and hospitality chains on lease.