Mumbai, Aug 29, 2024, IANS

Mumbai, Aug 29 (IANS) A day after the ruckus broke out between the Maha Vikas Aghadi and MahaYuti supporters, the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) organised statewide sit-in silent protest on Thursday to protest against the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue at Rajkot Fort, Malvan in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district. Incidentally, the state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare, who is accompanying party president Ajit Pawar in his Jansanman Yatra, has released a letter asking the district and village level units, sitting and former legislators and MPs, state office-bearers, chiefs of frontal organisations and party’s various cells to participate in the agitation. Tatkare has asked the party functionaries to submit the party’s representation to the tehsildar at the tehsil level and to the district collector at the district level after the sit-in silent protest demanding stern action against those responsible for the fall of the statue. "The government should erect a new imposing statue of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and a memorial to pay tribute to a Maratha warrior and a legendary leader who changed the course of Indian history." |Further, NCP's move is also important when the Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis has appealed to the opposition not to politicise the issue. The security at the Rajkot Fort, Malvan has been beefed up to avoid any untoward incident and maintain law and order situation. The NCP’s move has caught the BJP and Shiv Sena unawares. Further, NCP’s unilateral decision to hold a sit-in silent protest across Maharashtra comes when the Maha Vikas Aghadi is stepping up attacks against the MahaYuti Government accusing it of corruption for the fall of the statue. The Maha Vikas Aghadi has announced a protest at the Hutatma Chowk in Mumbai on Sunday. In a related move, the NCP legislator Amol Mitkari in an appeal to the Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis has sought imprisonment for the contractor Jaydeep Apte for treason. "The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue that collapsed at the Rajkot Fort in Malvan was the only statue in the country which had an injury mark on his forehead. Apte has sinned by running a hidden agenda by taking a contract worth crores of rupees. I urge Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take action against Apte who is an inexperienced and senseless man for treachery and he should be jailed," Mitkari said. Mitkari cited an interview given by Apte in the past saying that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was attacked by Afzal Khan in 1659 and he was injured with a scar on his forehead. "However, the historical context is different. What did Apte want to show by making such a statue showing the scar on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s forehead? How Apte like people want to falsify the history of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj?" he asked.