350 years on, Afzal Khan is back in the news

For Udayan Raje Bhosale – the BJP MLA from Satara, he belongs to the erstwhile royal family which still owns Pratapgad — the dargah of Afzal Khan and his body guard Syed Banda, together with the bastion which tourists know as Afzal Buruj, are major eyesores. So on Thursday, when the Pratapgad Victory Commemoration Committee of Satara organised a function near the gates to the fort, a controversy was created where none existed before.

Milind Ekbote, a former BJP corporator from Shivajinagar here, and Udayan Raje Bhosale and historians Ninad Bedekar and Sriniwas Sawant took the lead in celebrating Shiv-Pratapdin or Afzal Khan Vadh Diwas.

One of the first things they did was to inaugurate a sign board, right next to the existing board pointing to the “shrine” of Afzal Khan which is very close to the fort’s Mahadarwaza.

The new board, taller and larger and erected by the Pratapgad Victory Commemoration Committee of Satara-Maharashtra, proclaims (in Marathi, English, Gujarati) – “Jai Shivaji the Great. Yes, this is the very spot where Shivaji the Great killed Afzal Khan, who condemned Hindu Gods, and persisted with the ancient tradition of the devotees of model king Prabhu Shri Ram and the great diplomat Shri Krishna”.

Ekbote, after inaugurating the new signboard, said this was “a correction of a historical mis-representation” because people were being misled. “Guides from Mahabaleshwar say that Afzal Khan is a Sufi-saint and his dargah is here. As a result, the tourists are deliberately made to ignore the temple of Bhavani Mata,” he claimed.

And Ekbote had his following, egging him on with cries of Jai Shri Ram interspersing those of Jai Shivaji, Jai Bhawani. Interestingly, the signboard clubbed Shivaji with Ram and Krishna, all symbols of the Hindutva combine.

Naturally, members of the minority community living in the area were alarmed by the saffron show of strength. None of them were ready to speak openly about the celebrations.

The muzawar (keeper) of the dargah, Mubarak Mohammed Shaikh, had very little to say but he was clearly worried. “All this happened 350 years ago. Why are they making such a fuss about it now? And Shivaji Maharaj built the dargah for Afzal Khan himself.

Three and a half centuries after Shivaji booked Pratapgad a place in history when he assassinated Bijapur commander Afzal Khan and allowed the latter’s kin to erect a tomb at the place where the man fell, a direct descendant of Shivaji has returned to the hill fort to correct what he and some others believe have been distortions in time.

For Udayan Raje Bhosale — the BJP MLA from Satara, he belongs to the erstwhile royal family which still owns Pratapgad — the dargah of Afzal Khan and his body guard Syed Banda, together with the bastion which tourists know as Afzal Buruj, are major eyesores. Structures which `misrepresent’ history.

So on Thursday, when the Pratapgad Victory Commemoration Committee of Satara organised a function near the gates to the fort, a controversy was created where none existed before.

Milind Ekbote, a former BJP corporator from Pune’s Shivajinagar, and Udayan Raje Bhosale and historians Ninad Bedekar and Sriniwas Sawant took the lead in celebrating Shiv-Pratapdin or Afzal Khan Vadh Diwas.

One of the first things they did was to inaugurate a sign board, right next to the existing board pointing to the `shrine’ of Afzal Khan which is very close to the fort’s Mahadarwaza.

The new board, taller and larger and erected by the Pratapgad Victory Commemoration Committee of Satara-Maharashtra, proclaims (in Marathi, English, Gujarati) – “Jai Shivaji the Great. Yes, this is the very spot where Shivaji the Great killed Afzal Khan, who condemned Hindu Gods, and persisted with the ancient tradition of the devotees of model king Prabhu Shri Ram and the great diplomat Shri Krishna”.

Milind Ekbote, after inaugurating the new signboard, said this was “a correction of a historical mis-representation” because people were being misled. “Guides from Mahabaleshwar say that Afzal Khan is a Sufi-saint and his dargah is here. As a result, the tourists are deliberately made to ignore the temple of Bhavani Mata,” he claimed.

And Ekbote had his following, egging him on with cries of `Jai Shri Ram’ interspersing those of `Jai Shivaji, Jai Bhawani’. Interestingly, the signboard clubbed Shivaji with Ram and Krishna, all symbols of the Hindutva combine. Naturally, members of the minority community living in the area were alarmed by the saffron show of strength. None of them were ready to speak openly about the celebrations.

The muzawar (keeper) of the dargah, Mubarak Mohammed Shaikh, had very little to say but he was clearly worried. “All this happened 350 years ago. Why are they making such a fuss about it now? And Shivaji Maharaj built the dargah for Afzal Khan himself. So where is the need for all this controversy?” he said.

Mubarak Shaikh said he and his family had been residents of the area for generations. “This has been happening for three years now. But it was never on such a big scale as it was this time,” he said.But historian Ninad Bedekar, who had come to Pratapgad for the celebrations, said the Shiv-Pratapdin was a matter of pride. “The dargah gets so much attention. Fresh flowers are laid everyday. On the other hand, the samadhi of Shivaji at Raigad is suffering from utter neglect. This should not be happening, at least in Maharashtra,” Bedekar maintained.

A fort which hitherto existed only in history books and travel brochures now figures in a new controversy, courtesy people invoking the name of the very man who made it famous.