Row continues over Koshyari, Trivedi remarks: ‘Those insulting national heroes should face sedition charges,’ says Udayanraje Bhonsle
On November 24, he had written Union Home Minister Amit Shah and state Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking appropriate action against Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for his remarks against Chhatrapati Shivaji.
Bhosale said on Monday, "Each party uses Chhatraparti Shivaji Maharaj for political gains." (File)
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Udayanraje Bhosale on Monday said that those who defame national heroes should be punished with sedition charges as he broke down before media persons while addressing a press conference in the backdrop of alleged objectionable comments recently made against Chhatrapati Shivajiby Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi.
“Those who indulge in activities against the nation are charged under sedition law. On similar lines, those who defame national heroes like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj should also be punished under sedition law,” Bhosale, who is the direct descendant of the Maratha warrior king, said.
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“Nowadays, it has become fashionable to insult Shivaji Maharaj. The Governor’s statement looks like they are testing waters…If all this has to stop, then we all will have to unite,” Bhosale said.
When asked whether the national heroes he mentioned included Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, he said, “It includes all national heroes. Like the censor board, a machinery should be put in place which will put a stop to any attempt to defame our national heroes whether through remarks, in books or in movies.”
Addressing the event held at Residency Club in Pune, a teary eyed Bhosale said, “It would have been better if I had died rather than see this day…where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was being repeatedly humiliated.”
Steering clear of directly mentioning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bhosale said, “I am not here as a politician. I am here as a member of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s family. I am a Shiv Bhakt and like millions of Shiv Bhakts, I am also hurt at the insulting remarks made by Governor Koshyari and Trivedi against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.”
Bhosale further said, “If you can’t take action against people who insulted Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, then you have no right to take the name of the king. When elections come, you take the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. But when he is insulted, you keep quiet…In such cases, every political party should take a decision.”
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Bhosale said he will meet the President, the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, Chief Minister and Deputy CM over the issue.
On December 3, Bhosale said he will go to Raigad fort and “give vent” to “his anger and pain” before the samadhi of Chhatrapati Shivaji. “If there is no redressal to my demand, where else do I express my pain and anger other than at the samadhi at Raigad,” he said. Stating that he would not remain silent if the 17th century king was being repeatedly insulted, Bhosale said, “Chhatrapati Shivaji respected all religions and kept the country united. If he is being insulted repeatedly, I will not keep quiet.”
Stating that Shivaji believed in the philosophy of “sarva dharam sambhav”, Bhosale also said, “It is only secularism which keeps the country united.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
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