Several members of the Bajrang Dal protested outside former MLA and Konkani writer Uday Bhembre’s house in Margao Friday night demanding an “explanation” for a video in which the latter contested some historical claims recently made by Goa chief minister about 17th Century Maratha king, Shivaji. The protesters accused Bhembre of “insulting Chhatrapati Shivaji and distorting history”. The protesters, who had previously burnt Bhembre's effigy, dispersed after a brief argument with the writer’s son and his friends. Bhembre, 85, played a pivotal role during the Konkani language agitation and won Sahitya Akademi award in 2015 for his play ‘Karnaparva’. At a state-level function to celebrate Shiv Jayanti last week, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said it was a misconception that the Portuguese ruled ‘entire’ Goa for 450 years and that only three talukas of Goa were under Portuguese rule for that period while the rest were under Shivaji’s rule. Sawant added that a majority of people in Goa were saved from being converted to Christianity due to Shivaji’s rule. In his video uploaded Thursday, Bhembre, a former MLA from Margao constituency, uploaded a video on YouTube, referring to the claims made by Sawant in his speech and cited some texts to contest it. Defending his video, Bhembre told The Indian Express: “I have not expressed any of my opinions, because I am not a historian. I just quoted historians to say that what was mentioned [in the speech] is not history. I presented facts. I respect Shivaji as a hero in our national history. I have not said anything against Shivaji". He further said: “One of the protesters told me ‘You have no right to say anything about Shivaji’ and accused me of ‘dividing Hindus’. They said ‘you make videos about Shivaji, but you don’t make videos on the Portuguese and the Inquisition…my wife intervened and told them that I have written books on it, if they don’t read, then what can we do? I’m a citizen of India. And the Constitution gives me every right to express my views. Who are you to give anybody any right or withdraw any right? The idea, according to me, is to threaten somebody who is going to tell the truth.” Quoting his video, Bhumbre said the chief minister was correct that Portuguese did not have control over the whole of Goa for 450 years. "I narrated the history as to how different talukas came into their possession at different times. Tiswadi taluka is the only taluka, which was in their possession for 450 years because it was conquered in 1510. Bardez and Salcete talukas were ceded by Adil Shah…Portuguese did not conquer those, they were ceded in another context in 1543. They conquered Ponda taluka in 1763. The rest of the six talukas came under Portuguese only between 1781 and 1788…,” he said. But he also refuted the ‘theory’ about Shivaji’s rule in seven talukas in his video. “I said Shivaji never ruled over Goa. He never conquered any territory in the state. Shivaji, at least outwardly, had good relations with the Portuguese because they had a common enemy. So much so that when Shivaji decided to build his Navy, he requested the Portuguese to give him craftsmen. The Portuguese gave him the craftsmen, who built 20 ships…all this is discussed in Dr Pissurlekar’s book on Portuguese-Maratha relations. On the claim that Shivaji stopped the conversions, I said it is wrong. The conversions started in 1540, whereas Shivaji was born in 1630. I asked ‘how much time will it take [for conversions] in only four talukas, where the population was less than 2 lakhs?’ So, Shivaji never interfered with that and if Shivaji had done that, he would not have approached the Portuguese for craftsmen…The conversions continued even after Shivaji’s death,” he added. Viraj Desai, state convenor of Bajrang Dal, said: “In the video, Bhembre has made some insulting statements towards Shivaji. It was not a protest, we had just gone to ask for a clarification. We told him we recognise his contribution to the Konkani movement. We said that you can object to anyone, but do not use Shivaji Maharaj for politics or to settle political scores.”
