‘Reinstallation of poet’s bust an insult to Sambhaji’

Sambhaji Brigade activists removed the statue of Marathi poet and playwright Ram Ganesh Gadkari from Sambhaji Park in Pune on Tuesday.

The Pune Municipal Corporation’s attempts to re-install the bust of legendary Marathi litterateur Ram Ganesh Gadkari would be a deliberate provocation and one that could lead to a law and order situation.

The State and civic administration should paid heed to the demands of the Sambhaji Brigade, , the outfit’s members said here on Monday.

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Sambhaji Brigade vandalises statue of litterateur R.G. Gadkari in Pune

"The gesture [to reinstall Gadkari’s bust] would be an insult to the reputation of King Sambhaji. We cannot guarantee the consequences of where the collective anger of Maratha youth might spill over if the PMC went ahead with the move. It might lead to a law and order problem for which we would not be responsible,” warned Sambhaji Brigade spokesperson Amol Mitkari in a scarcely veiled threat.

He said the Maratha Seva Sangh and the Sambhaji Brigade had been crusading against the removal of Gadkari’s bust for the past 12 years, but the civic administration had not paid any heed to the outfit’s sentiments.

The famous bust, installed in the city’s sprawling Sambhaji Park in 1962, had been uprooted and then flung into the river by four activists of the pro-Maratha outfit last week.

‘Negative portrayal’

The Brigade defended its actions on the ground that Gadkari had ‘negatively’ portrayed King Sambhaji, the eldest son of the Maratha warrior king Shivaji Maharaj, in his early 20th century magnum opus play Raj-Sanyas as an alcoholic and womaniser.

The outfit, which infamously vandalised the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune, in protest against American scholar James Laine’s book on Shivaji, has accordingly demanded that the Fadnavis government set up a historical committee to enquire into the allegedly ‘negative references’ in Gadkari’s play and install a statue of King Sambhaji in lieu of Gadkari’s at the Sambhaji Park.

Mr. Mitkari further rebuffed accusations by political parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) that the vandalism was linked to the approaching municipal elections. It was an attempt to create schisms within social classes.

“The rumour is being spread that our action was deliberately timed on the eve of the civic polls. We have never believed in achieving power by playing ‘statue politics.’”