Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday apologised for the collapse of a statue of 17th-century ruler Shivaji in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district.
The 35-foot statue at the Rajkot Fort in the Malvan region collapsed on Monday afternoon amid heavy rainfall and strong winds. It was inaugurated by the prime minister on Navy Day in December.
While speaking at a public gathering in Palghar on Friday, Modi said that Shivaji was not just a ruler. “He is highly revered and worshipped,” said the prime minister. “For us, he is our aaradhya dev [revered deity].”
He added: “I extend my apologies to all those who worship Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as their revered deity. I know their sentiments are hurt.”
Modi said that when the Bharatiya Janata Party first named him as a candidate for the post of prime minister, he had visited Raigad Fort. Shivaji had made this fort his capital in 1674.
“I bowed before Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue [at Raigad Fort] and sought his blessings,” the prime minister said.
The Opposition in Maharashtra had said that the statue’s collapse was an insult to Shivaji.
“It is obvious that the work of this statue was of poor quality, which is why the statue collapsed before completing a year,” said Supriya Sule, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). “This is an open deception by the prime minister. There is a need for a thorough investigation to look into the inferior quality of the statue.”
Jayant Patil, the Maharashtra chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), said that the state’s Mahayuti government was responsible for the incident “as it did not take proper care” of the structure.
“The government paid little attention to the quality of work,” Patil said. “It only focused on conducting an event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited to unveil the statue.”
The Mahayuti alliance consists of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party group.
On its part, the state government said that it had filed police complaints against officials, contractors and the statue’s sculptors, The Indian Express reported.
Shinde said that it was an unfortunate incident and that the statue had been built and designed by the Indian Navy.
“When I spoke to the district collector, I was told that the winds were blowing at a rate of 45 km per hour that damaged the statue,” the chief minister said. “We will ensure that a new statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is built on the same spot.”
On Thursday, Shinde said that he was ready to apologise a hundred times to Shivaji for the collapse of the statue, The Times of India reported.
“Chhatrapati Shivaji is the patron deity of Maharashtra,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “I am ready to touch his feet a hundred times and apologise. I will not shy away from apologising. Our government functions keeping his [Shivaji] ideals in mind.”
Assembly elections in Maharashtra are expected to be held later this year.
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