Mumbai/Sindhudurg. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that collapsed in Sindhudurg district a day earlier was built by the Navy and the state government has now decided to install a giant statue of the Maratha warrior at the same spot.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled a 35-foot-high statue of the 17th century Maratha Empire founder at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg’s Malvan tehsil on Navy Day on December 4 last year. The statue collapsed on Monday afternoon.
Speaking to reporters here, Fadnavis said, “The construction of the statue was supervised by the Navy and not the state government. Those responsible for the construction and installation of the statue may have ignored important local factors such as high wind speed and the quality of iron used in it. The statue would be more prone to rusting due to exposure to winds rising from the sea.” The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that now the question is whether the makers of the statue had understood all these factors.
He said, “Our resolve is to build a bigger statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at the same place.” He said that the incident of the statue collapse is being investigated. When asked about the opposition parties targeting him over this incident, Fadnavis said, “The statue falling is sad but the opposition parties’ stand on this is not right. There is no need to politicize this issue.” After the statue collapsed, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday claimed that this incident happened due to the wind blowing at a speed of 45 kilometers per hour. Opposition parties have targeted the state government saying that this statue was installed in a hurry in view of the Lok Sabha elections.
Don’t do politics on the fall of Shivaji Maharaj’s statue: Kesarkar
Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar on Tuesday suggested that there should be no politics over the falling of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue and proposed to install a new 100-foot-high statue at the same place. The 35-foot-high statue of the Maratha ruler unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Navy Day on December 4 last year at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg’s Malvan tehsil fell on Monday afternoon amid strong winds. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the statue was built by the Navy.
Kesarkar, who hails from coastal Sindhudurg district, stressed that public sentiments cannot be assuaged by the state government’s probe. Kesarkar told reporters, “Until the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is installed in the Arabian Sea, the biggest statue of the Maratha ruler should be installed in Malvan. The statue should be around 100 feet high.” Referring to the statue falling, he said that some good result should come out of this incident.