Shivaji Maharaj’s descendant, BJP leader Udayanraje Bhosale ticks of Sena, NCP over book row

Pune: Asserting that no political leader was tall enough to merit comparison with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, former MP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Udayanraje Bhosale on Tuesday lambasted the ruling Shiv Sena, questioning as to why late Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray’s photo was placed above that of the Maratha warrior King at the Sena Bhavan in Mumbai.

Speaking to news persons here, Bhosale, who was silent over the row triggered by the publication of the book Aaj ke Shivaji Narendra Modi, penned by BJP’s Jai Bhagwan Goel, targeted his own party members for coming out with an outrageous book that dared to compare Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Shivaji Maharaj is a universal inspiration…no one is tall enough to be compared with him. Have some people taken leave of their senses by comparing him with the Prime Minister?” remarked Bhosale, the 13th direct descendant of the legendary Maratha warrior king.

He, however, reserved his most savage criticism for the Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) who, along with the Congress, have formed the ‘Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’ government in the State.

“Just take a look at the Shiv Sena Bhavan (the party’s headquarters in Mumbai’s Dadar area) …look whose image (Bal Thackeray’s) is placed above whose photo is placed below (that of King Shivaji),” said Bhosale, flashing photos of the Sena Bhavan in Dadar.

The Sena, which stridently claims to be a party built on Shivaji’s ideals, should change its name to ‘Thackeray Sena’, he caustically remarked.

“Remove ‘Shiv’ (Shivaji) from ‘Shiv Sena’ and then let me see how many youths flock to your standards…this is the party which had orchestrated riots on King Shivaji’s name,” said Bhosale, a former three-term MP who had quit the NCP to join the BJP ahead of the State Assembly polls last year.

Bhosale’s remarks were a sharp rejoinder to Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s recent jibes directed at him.

Raut had indirectly targeted Bhosale demanded that the descendants of the Chhatrapati, including BJP MLA Shivendraraje Bhosale and BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sambhajiraje Bhosale besides Udayanraje, must speak up against their party on the booklet row.

“When you (Shiv Sena leadership) christened your party as ‘Shiv Sena’, did you people then bother to ask Shivaji’s descendants,” Bhosale shot back at Raut.

Lashing out at the opportunistic nature of the MVA government and Raut’s role in forging an alliance with the NCP-Congress, Bhosale remarked that the BJP did not “run after power like dogs”.

In a veiled jibe at NCP chief Sharad Pawar, he further remarked that referring to someone using Chhatrapati Shivaji’s epithet of Jaanta Raja (the wise King) was tantamount to belittling the Maratha warrior king and that only the 17th century ruler had claim to the title of ‘Jaanta Raja.’

Pawar has often been referred to with this title in political circles – a point which some BJP leaders including former Maharashtra Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar seized on while defending Goyal’s booklet and criticizing the Sena for its double-standards on the booklet equating Shivaji with Modi.

The book, penned by BJP leader Jai Bhagwan Goyal, evoked a wave of condemnation across Maharashtra, with a number of protests and effigy-burning demonstrations held by the Sena, the NCP and the Congress whose activists filed multiple police complaints against Goyal across various districts of the State.

Bhosale, who was one of only four elected NCP MPs in Maharashtra in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, had resigned his post to switch sides with the BJP. However, in the Satara Lok Sabha by-election, he lost to senior NCP leader and former Sikkim Governor, Shriniwas Patil.

A maverick politician known for his odd antics throughout the district, Bhosale’s defection to the BJP is expected to bolster the saffron party’s standing with the Maratha community besides dealing another jolt to the beleaguered NCP in western Maharashtra.