’Nehru insulted Shivaji Maharaj...’: Fadnavis says amid row over statue collapse, Cong hits back, ’only uneducated...’

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on Sunday slammed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for spreading fake narratives following the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue in Sindhudurg district saying that the incident has broken the hearts of people in the country who draw inspiration from the legendary Maratha king.

“The Mughals did not succeed in breaking Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. But this corrupt government has done what Mughals could never do,” PTI quoted the Congress spokesperson as saying.

Hitting out at Maharashtra Deputy CM Fadnavis for claiming that late prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had shown Shivaji Maharaj in a “poor light” in his book ‘The Discovery of India’, Khera said the BJP leader should stop spreading fake narratives.

“Only uneducated people can talk like this. I had a hope that Devendra Fadnavis would be a little educated. Nehru ji wrote a letter after the first edition in 1936...and he said that he wrote it when he was in jail and he did not have reference material. It was changed in the next edition...he (PM Modi) apologised in an angry tone. Is this an apology? and he should have suspended the responsible Minister and CM. Punish them..."

Just like Lord Ram belongs to all, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj belongs to the entire country, Khera added.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s apology over the incident, Khera said, “The country rejects PM’s apology which has been made arrogantly. We want to know what action has been taken against the guilty.”

Earlier in the day, Fadnavis criticized the Maha Vikas Aghadi protest against the collapse of the statue, stating that Congress never respected Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. “This agitation is completely political. Be it Maha Vikas Aghadi or Congress party, they never respected Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj...Nehru ji insulted Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in The Discovery of India. Will Congress and MVA apologise for it? In Madhya Pradesh, the then CM Kamal Nath demolished the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with bulldozer...Even years after independence, the same Congress taught us that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj looted Surat. He never looted Surat. People of Surat erected a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj there...Will Congress apologise for it?...”

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister was reacting after the leaders from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) marched from the iconic Hutatma Chowk to Gateway of India in south Mumbai to protest the statue collapse.

The MVA leaders slammed the BJP-led Union and state governments, with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray calling PM Modi's apology one "smacking of arrogance" and NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar attributing the collapse to corruption.

The statue of the 17th-century Maratha warrior king collapsed at Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil, some 480 kilometres from here, collapsed on August 26. It was unveiled by PM Modi on December 4, 2023, on the occasion of Navy Day.