3 min readMumbaiFeb 15, 2026 12:57 PM IST
First published on: Feb 15, 2026 at 12:57 PM IST
While strongly condemning Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal for drawing parallels between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Tipu Sultan, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Saturday said the state will not tolerate any insult to the erstwhile Maratha ruler.
Speaking to the media in Nagpur, Fadnavis said, “Maharashtra holds Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the highest esteem. He is our deity, and we worship the great warrior King Shivaji Maharaj. Anybody who dares to insult him will get a befitting reply.”
Congress leader Sapkal should feel ashamed and apologise to the people of Maharashtra, Fadnavis said.
“Maharashtra will not tolerate this. Congress chief Sapkal should apologise for comparing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with Tipu Sultan. The Congress should take cognisance of this matter, and its allies must clear their stand on Sapkal’s statement,” Fadnavis said.
On Monday, Sapkal sparked controversy by comparing Shivaji Maharaj to the 18th-century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan.
Sapkal in Buldhana was responding to the controversy over the portrait of Tipu Sultan in the office of Malegaon Municipal Corporation Deputy Mayor Shan-e-Hind Nihal Ahmed, which was opposed by Shiv Sena corporators there and Hindu outfits.
According to Sapkal, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj presented the idea of ‘Swarajya’. “He was a great and courageous king. He is highly respected,” he said.
At that time, he pointed out that Tipu Sultan’s call for battle against the British also displayed his valour.
The Congress leader said, “In that sense, Tipu Sultan also emerged as a warrior and a bhoomiputra of Bharat. He never embraced poisonous ideologies. He evoked a symbol of valour.”
Stating the comparison was misplaced, Fadnavis wondered, “How can anybody even dare to make such a statement. It is highly condemnable. Sapkal himself should reflect on his remarks and regret. He should feel ashamed.”
Following the reaction. Sapkal took to X, saying, “The valour of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is unparalleled, while Tipu Sultan was valiant and a lover of Swarajya.”
“It was by taking Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as an ideal that he (Tipu Sultan) fought against the British,” Sapkal said in the post.
In a hard-hitting attack on the BJP, Sapkal said, “The Sangh/BJP advocates ideologues who made them slaves and spies of the British.” Whereas he argued, “Tipu Sultan fought against foreign rulers.”
Unfazed by the attack, Sapkal said, “We don’t have to learn history from RSS/BJP. Fadnavis (does) not teach us history.”
He also said Maharashtra knows how the BJP-RSS and former governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari “insulted and disrespected” Shivaji Maharaj.
Devendra Fadnavis asked how Sapkal can compare Tipu Sultan with Shivaji Maharaj (File photo). 
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