Collapse of Chhatrapati’s statue an insult to India and Maharashtra: Kharge

Sangli, Sep 5 : Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said that the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg is not only an ‘insult’ to the legendary Maratha warrior-king but also to India and Maharashtra.





Addressing a rally in Sangli, Kharge held the RSS-linked persons for the poor quality construction which eventually led to the statue’s crash on August 26, at the Rajkot Fort in the coastal Sindhudurg district.



The Congress chief said that after the statue crash, the whole country realised what kind of construction the BJP and RSS have done and how they hastily built the figurine that collapsed and brought disgrace to the state and the nation.



“Somewhere in Gujarat, a bridge collapsed, elsewhere a tunnel crashed, at another place the roof of an airport crumbled down… After the inauguration of Lord Ram Temple in Ayodhya, water started leaking from the roof, and a similar leakage scenario was witnessed in the new Parliament building,” said Kharge, citing examples.



“The RSS is intruding into the education system of the country by changing the study syllabus. Their academic policies are contrary to the progressive ideology of the country. They are also attempting to tamper with the Constitution written by B. R. Ambedkar. The Congress will not allow this,” warned Kharge.



He accused the BJP-RSS of pursuing the sole task of “damaging the ideology of a progressive Maharashtra” propounded by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Jyotirao Phule and Dr BR Ambedkar.



Kharge said that the RSS is recruiting people of its ideology into the education sector through the backdoors, curriculums are being changed arbitrarily, and now it is up to the people of Maharashtra to stop this.



Along with Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar, Ramesh Chennithala, Nana Patole and other bigwigs, Kharge joined a function to inaugurate a statue of the late Congress stalwart, Patangrao Kadam and paid glowing tributes to his contributions to the party, the people of the state and the education sector.