Headlines
Pawar plays caste politics: Raj Thackeray
Mumbai, Aug 18
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday flayed NCP president Sharad Pawar for
opposing conferring of the state's highest award on an eminent historian
and accused the former union minister of indulging "only in caste
politics for vested interest".
Criticising the Nationalist
Congress Party leader's opposition to conferment of the prestigious
Maharashtra Bhushan on eminent historian Balwant Moreshwar alias
Babasaheb Purandare on Wednesday, Thackeray lamented that the event had
been sullied by the controversy raging for the past few days.
Attacking
the NCP supremo for opposing the award, Thackeray asked if Purandare
did not deserve the award, why did he (Pawar) felicitate him on two
occasions in the past.
To a question, Thackeray warned: "If anybody dares to touch Purandare, we will do a 'tandav' in Maharashtra."
The
state government's decision to award Purandare, 95, kicked off a row
between lobbies for and against as his writings on the Maratha warrior
king Chhatrapati Shivaji have become an emotional issue in the state.
The
Sambhaji Brigade, considered representative of the powerful Maratha
community, and other opponents allege a 'Brahmanical conspiracy' by
Purandare and others to defame Chhatrapati Shivaji's mother Jijabai,
calling him a Hindu king though he had many Muslims serving him,
distorting history with untruths and creating controversies.
A
group of leaders, including descendents of the Chhatrapati clan --
Udayanraje Bhosale, NCP MP from Satara, and Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje of
Kolhapur, have asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to defer
conferment of the award till the controversy is put to rest.
Other
prominent opponents include Jnanpith laureate Bhalchandra Nemade, Mukta
Dabholkar (daughter of slain anti-superstition activist Narendra
Dabholkar), Medha Pansare (daughter of slain CPI leader Govind Pansare),
and leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, activists and other
groups across the state.
While the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena
leaders have already favoured the award for Purandare, the MNS came out
in support on Tuesday. Even the NCP's official position is that
Purandare deserves the award.
"I feel the portrayal of Shivaji in
Purandare's work is not in keeping with history. I have respect for him
but I have a different image of Shivaji in my mind," Nemade urged in
his letter to Fadnavis.
Opposing the government's move, some
so-called Sambhaji Brigade activists ransacked the office of BJP's
Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde in Ahmednagar on Tuesday.
Considering
the strong feelings over the upcoming award ceremony, Maharashtra
Police have increased security around Purandare's Pune residence.
Several
top NCP leaders have demanded that the award for Purandare should be
cancelled, and around 50 village panchayats in Pune district also passed
a resolution in the same vein.
Over a decade ago, a similar
controversy erupted when American historian James Laine penned a book on
Chhatrapati Shivaji, raking up the questions of his parentage.
It
resulted in an attack by Sambhaji Brigade on Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute in Pune, a police case against Laine and a ban on his
book in India.