While unveiling a 20-foot bronze statue of Shivaji in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur last week, Congress MP and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi said that the much venerated 17th-century Maratha warrior’s rich legacy – defined by his inclusive and egalitarian principles and respect for all faiths including Islam – helped lay the foundation for the Indian Constitution.
This statement came in the backdrop of the tragic collapse of the Shivaji statue in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg on August 4, merely nine months after it was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The people of Maharashtra, who adore Shivaji like a divine figure, were outraged and Modi – who is not known for tendering apologies for the blunders he commits – asked the public for forgiveness. In Kolhapur, Rahul focused not on the physicality of the disaster but its deeper significance. “The collapse of the statue is symbolic of the BJP’s lack of faith in the Constitution, which draws heavily from the Maratha king’s ideas,” Gandhi said.
He went on to add that the Maratha leader’s worldview, anchored in equality and unity, resonates in the articles enshrined in the Constitution and so respecting Shivaji meant respecting the Constitution itself. He asserted that the breaking apart of that statue was an affront to Shivaji and it represented the fight between two ideologies, one standing for equality and unity and the other which assails the Constitution.
In that context, he referred to the opposition Shivaji faced on account of his caste identity at the time of his royal coronation. He said that the ideology which opposed Shivaji’s coronation is now represented by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Gandhi’s statement was evocative of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s account in his book, Who Were the Shudras, where he details how Shivaji’s caste identity was held against him by Maharashtrian priests, eventually leading to a priest from Benaras being invited to officiate at his coronation.
Juxtaposing Shivaji’s legacy with the Constitution, and BJP’s assault on it, represented an out-of-the box approach to uphold the Constitution and defend it. What the Congress MP did in fact reminds us of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru’s reverential invocation of Shivaji during the freedom struggle for the cause of Swaraj.
Gandhi and Nehru on Shivaji
In Discovery of India, Nehru referred to the inclusive culture of Maharashtra and wrote, “Nevertheless the Marathas were catholic in their political and military system as well as their habits, and there was a certain internal democracy among them. All this gave strength to them. Shivaji, though he fought Aurangzeb, freely employed Muslims”.
Mahatma Gandhi, while addressing a public meeting in Odisha’s Cuttack, on March 21, 1921 stated that because there was some sort of Swaraj under Mughal rule, a Pratap could take on Akbar and in Aurangzeb’s time a Shivaji could flourish. He then asked, “Has 150 years of British rule produced any Pratap and Shivaji?
Shivaji represented that spirit of Swaraj which pervades the India Constitution. Therefore, Rahul Gandhi drawing a parallel between Shivaji’s legacy with the Constitution of India is evocative of what Gandhi and Nehru wrote about the warrior-king.
Shivaji invoked in the Constituent Assembly
While participating in a discussion in the Constituent Assembly on the Objectives Resolution on January 21, 1947, R.V. Dhulekar firmly rejected the idea that the assembly was a British creation and not a sovereign body and that the Constitution drawn up by it would be of no importance. He asserted that for over a thousand years, the fire of freedom has been blazing while referring to Shivaji, among several warriors, statesmen and politicians in this context, who, in his words, were, “political symbols of this very fire”.
Mahavir Tyagi, another prominent member of the assembly, while disapproving the amendment of K.T. Shah that required ministers to be fluent in English for the first 10 years after the Constitution was adopted and then Hindi for the next ten years, gave the examples of Shivaji and Akbar who were not formally educated and yet distinguished themselves as great rulers.
Such respectful references in the Constituent Assembly clearly proves the point advanced by the Congress leader about Shivaji’s worldview and its reflection in the Constitution.
How BJP uses Shivaji to attack Muslims
Against this historical backdrop, it is tragic to note that the BJP and right wing forces have always invoked Shivaji to foster anti-Muslim feelings by recalling how he killed Afzal Khan, the commander of Adil Shah – conveniently ignoring the historical records documenting numerous Muslims employed in Shivaji’s army.
Govind Pansare in his book Who Was Shivaji? wrote with anguish that “Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji is used to attack both Muslims and Dalits”. “The new followers of Shivaji,” he stated, “oppose reservations for Dalits… They conveniently forget that Shivaji had consciously enrolled Dalits into service”. Pansare also remarks, “He had given them prestige. There is a tendency to distort the legacy of heroes. It does not happen unintentionally. Some might originate in ignorance, but most of it is a product of deliberate mischief. It is done to serve some vested interests”.
Therefore, Rahul Gandhi linking Shivaji’s legacy with the constitutional vision of India is a refreshing attempt to uphold his inclusive worldview and counter the distortion of his life and work. It assumes enormous significance in the context of the struggle against the BJP and other forces attacking the Constitution in an attempt to polarise the country in the name of faith.
S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan.
This article was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.
