A controversy over the shifting of the statue of Dadoji Konddev, believed to be the ‘guru’ of Chhatrapati Shivaji, in Pune led to violence today, as opposition parties attacked the mayor’s office. The mayor’s chair was thrown onto the road.
While the Shiv Sena called for a Pune bandh tomorrow to protest, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) said it would launch an agitation.
After passing a resolution last week, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress-ruled Pune Municipal Corporation shifted the statue to a municipal garden from the city’s Lal Mahal this morning.
Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray said it was ‘unfortunate’ that the Pune Municipal Corporation ‘removed’ the statue of Dadoji Konddev as if it were the statue of a ‘terrorist’.
Lal Mahal, in the heart of Pune, was the childhood home of Chhatrapati Shivaji and currently has statues of a young Shivaji and his mother, Jijabai. The municipal corporation plans to erect a statue of Shivaji’s father, Shahaji Maharaj, in place of Dadoji Konddev’s statue that was removed today.
“What reason will you give when you are asked why the statue of Dadoji Konddev was removed? What was the harm if Shahaji’s statue was installed along with Dadoji and Shivaji?” asked MNS chief Raj Thackeray. He also accused the Congress-NCP alliance of ‘playing caste politics’ by relocating the statue.
“According to history, Konddev entered Shivaji’s life when he was seven years old,” Raj said, threatening that his party would consider launching a massive agitation over the issue.
However, NCP has already defended the removal of the statue and said it was a step to correct history.
