Historical past doesn’t all the time keep in textbooks. Generally, it returns framed on a wall. In Malegaon, a portrait of the 18th-century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, briefly positioned contained in the workplace of a newly-elected deputy mayor, triggered a political controversy that has travelled far past the municipal company constructing the place it started. Inside 48 hours, the picture was eliminated by the civic administration, the matter escalated right into a struggle of phrases between Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal, protests broke out in a number of cities, and eight individuals had been injured in stone pelting in Pune.On the centre of the row was not merely the presence of Tipu Sultan’s portrait however Sapkal’s assertion evaluating him with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as belonging “to the identical league of valour”. The chief minister described the comparison as “unacceptable” and stated the Congress politician must be “ashamed”. What adopted was a well-known sample in Indian public life the place historical past, reminiscence, symbolism and up to date political positioning intersect.
How controversy unfolded
The controversy started after Shiv Sena corporators in Malegaon objected to the show of Tipu Sultan’s portrait in deputy mayor Shaan-e-Hind Nihal Ahmed’s workplace. A delegation met Malegaon civic chief Ravindra Jadhav, demanding that or not it’s eliminated and warning of an agitation if the administration failed to act. The Malegaon Municipal Company on Saturday eliminated the portrait from the workplace.Jadhav confirmed that the administration examined the state authorities’s official protocol listing, which outlines leaders whose anniversaries are noticed and whose portraits are permitted for show in authorities workplaces, earlier than taking the motion. “Tipu Sultan’s title just isn’t included within the listing. Due to this fact, the portrait was faraway from the deputy mayor’s workplace,” MMC officers stated.Ahmed, nonetheless, defended the determine’s historic relevance. “Tipu Sultan fought in opposition to the British and was acknowledged for his bravery at the moment. There are roads named after him in Mumbai and Nagpur. That is an try to divert consideration from our work. Some individuals are unable to digest that two Muslim girls are mayor and deputy mayor in Malegaon,” she instructed reporters.When requested in regards to the controversy, Sapkal, talking in Buldhana on Saturday, stated, “He (Tipu Sultan) waged a struggle in opposition to the British and was a courageous warrior. He was a son of the soil. He by no means entertained toxic or divisive ideas. We must always view Tipu Sultan as an equal to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as a logo of bravery,” he stated.
Sakpal’s remark sparks a storm
CM Fadnavis referred to as the comparison unacceptable. Congress “must be ashamed of equating the founder of Hindavi Swarajya with Tipu Sultan, who butchered 1,000s of Hindus,” he stated.The episode reopened an older historic debate that has periodically entered political discourse as each figures occupy vital however very totally different areas in Indian historical past.
CM Fadnavis hits again
Shivaji = Tipu, or Shivaji > Tipu?
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, born in 1630, is broadly considered the founder of the Maratha state and the architect of Hindavi Swarajya. His navy campaigns in opposition to the Mughal Empire and regional sultanates laid the inspiration for a political formation that finally expanded into one of essentially the most highly effective empires in early fashionable India. Shivaji’s legacy in Maharashtra just isn’t confined to historic admiration alone. He represents resistance, self-rule, regional delight, and a warrior ethos deeply embedded within the state’s socio-political consciousness.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
Tipu Sultan, born in 1751, dominated the Kingdom of Mysore throughout a interval of intense battle between Indian polities and the increasing British East India Firm. Alongside his father, Hyder Ali, he waged a number of wars in opposition to British forces and is remembered in a number of accounts as one of the earliest rulers to undertake fashionable navy applied sciences corresponding to iron-cased rockets. In 1799, Tipu Sultan died preventing the British in the course of the siege of Srirangapatna.For a lot of historians, Tipu Sultan’s significance lies in his sustained resistance to colonial enlargement. For others, significantly in areas corresponding to elements of Karnataka and Kerala, he stays a contested determine due to accounts of compelled conversions, temple desecrations and harsh campaigns in opposition to sure communities.
Tipu Sultan
The debate over his rule has continued for many years and has typically been formed by political context as a lot as archival proof. These differing interpretations have given Tipu Sultan a posh afterlife in up to date politics.
Why did it explode into controversy
In Maharashtra, Shivaji Maharaj occupies an nearly sacred place throughout ideological strains, however significantly inside the political vocabulary of the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) and Shiv Sena. The Maratha ruler is ceaselessly invoked as a logo of indigenous sovereignty, martial delight and cultural assertion. References to Hindavi Swarajya resonate strongly with narratives centred on civilisational id and self-willpower.Any perceived try to equate Shivaji Maharaj with one other historic determine, particularly one whose legacy is contested, subsequently carries political sensitivity.
BJP activists protest in opposition to Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal’s remarks equating Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with Tipu Sultan exterior Congress Bhavan, in Pune.
BJP leaders have argued that comparisons diminish the distinctive historic function of Shivaji Maharaj. BJP Pune metropolis president Dheeraj Ghate stated, “Sapkal’s remarks deeply harm the emotions of all those that idolise Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as a deity. It’s a deliberate try to create a rift in society.”For the Congress, Tipu Sultan has at occasions represented anti-colonial resistance and an inclusive strand of historic nationalism. In southern states, particularly Karnataka, Congress governments have celebrated Tipu Jayanti, framing him as a freedom fighter who resisted British rule. Political opponents, significantly from the BJP and allied organisations, have lengthy argued that such commemorations replicate an try at minority outreach, with the emphasis on Tipu’s anti-British legacy seen by them as half of a broader effort to counter the rise of Hindutva-centred historic narratives.This divergence in emphasis displays deeper ideological variations in how the previous is mobilised in current day politics. Whereas the BJP’s political messaging typically foregrounds civilisational continuity and indigenous cultural delight aligned with Hindutva thought, the Congress has tended to promote pluralist interpretations of historical past that critics ceaselessly characterise as accommodative or appeasement-pushed of their political intent.The political undertone of invoking both determine is subsequently vital. Shivaji Maharaj serves as a unifying icon in Maharashtra, but additionally as a potent image inside a wider discourse on id, sovereignty and cultural resurgence related to Hindutva politics. Tipu Sultan, against this, typically turns into a focus in debates the place his remembrance is interpreted by critics by means of the prism of Muslim appeasement versus majoritarian assertions of historic id.
From portrait to protests
The controversy in Malegaon shortly unfold past the preliminary administrative resolution. BJP and proper organisation supporters protested in Nagpur, Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Sangli, Solapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nanded, Latur and elsewhere. In Pune, Patit Pawan Sanghatana members had been the primary to assemble in entrance of the Congress Bhawan on Sunday morning, condemning Sapkal’s remarks.Round 12.30 pm, BJP employees, together with mayor Manjusha Nagpure, reached the location and began sloganeering and exhibiting posters. By then, about 100 Congress employees reached the location and began elevating counter slogans.“Because the sloganeering was on from either side, somebody hurled a stone. This set off stone pelting by members from both facet,” further commissioner of police Manoj Patil stated. “Two girls constables, two reporters and two employees every from BJP and Congress had been injured. “The nature of accidents was not severe,” he stated.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis pays tribute to the best king, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Shivtirtha, Ichalkaranji, in Kolhapur.
As political leaders weighed in, the controversy widened. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi defended Tipu Sultan, saying, “In 1799, Tipu Sultan died preventing the British,” and added, “He didn’t sit in jail and write love letters to the British.”In the meantime, Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao stated by glorifying Tipu Sultan, the AIMIM “is distorting historical past”.Amid mounting criticism, Sapkal later clarified his remarks. “My assertion was misinterpreted by the BJP for political advantages. I stated that there can’t be anybody like Shivaji Maharaj, and Tipu Sultan took inspiration from him.” He subsequently expressed remorse, saying, “I didn’t say something incorrect about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The query of comparison doesn’t come up; I didn’t make one.”He described Shivaji Maharaj as “my best, my inspiration and my delight,” and appealed for calm. “If any Shiv devotees’ sentiments had been harm as a result of of misuse of my phrases, I sincerely categorical remorse. It was by no means my intention to harm anybody’s emotions. Allow us to put this matter to relaxation right here.”But, the episode illustrates how historic figures proceed to perform as political signifiers in up to date India. Portraits in public workplaces are hardly ever impartial. They sign not solely admiration but additionally affiliation, narrative and generally ideological positioning.As demonstrations unfold and leaders traded fees over historic interpretation, the controversy confirmed no instant signal of abating. What started as the location of a portrait has change into a reminder that in Indian politics, the previous stays an lively participant within the current. The photos on the wall typically communicate as loudly because the speeches delivered beneath them.
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