Heaping praise on Chhatrapati Shivaji for his progressive outlook and ability to think beyond his times, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said on Sunday that limiting the Maratha warrior’s greatness to victories on battlefields would be doing injustice to the man, who had contributed a great deal to the society on various fronts.
Speaking at a function marking the conclusion of a “Mahanagad The Raigad” organised by Sangli-based foundation “Shiv Prathishthan” organised at Raigad fort, Modi also debunked the “wrong” impression created in certain quarters that Shivaji had looted Surat, saying that the fact remained the Maratha warrior had in fact plundered the Aurangazeb treasure in that city with the help of local people.
“When Maratha warrior came to Surat, local people gave him a place to hide, provided food and extended whatever logic support he needed. It was with this logic support from local people of Surat that Shivaji Maharaj captured Aurangeb’s treasure in the city. Therefore, to say that Shivaji Maharaj had come to loot Surat would be an insult to the great Maratha warrior,” Modi said.
Modi lamented that though Shivaji had contributed a great deal for the progress of society, the only impression that conjured up in the minds of people outside Maharashtra was that of a great warrior and his exploits on the battlefield. “The image that gets immediately comes to the mind of people across the country is of a warrior astride a horse with a sword in hand. It is rather unfortunate we have reduced the greatness of such a man to some events of a war,” the BJP leader said.
Modi said that more than fighting battles for power and pelf, Shivaji was waging battles as part of his mission to seek freedom for the nation. “ Yes, Shivaji was waging battles for longer period. He was merely following the prevailing traditions of the society then. He was not fighting battles for power or pelf. But, the larger goal behind his waging battles was to free India from slavery,” he said.
“Along with fighting battles, he was also dreaming as to how Independent India should be, how should be its culture, traditions etc. It was from this land of Maharashtra had evolved a model for an independent India. It was in this land that he had set up laboratory for building the nation. All this he had done 350 years ago,” Modi said.