Lotus 2.0: Hectic political activities among coalition partners

Bengaluru, Feb 24: Raising questions about the situation in Kashmir, senior Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister Sidddaramaiah on Monday asked the BJP heading the union government to prove 'normalcy' by hosting US President Donald Trump's event in the valley.

If @BJP4India feels Kashmir has returned to Normalcy, & If @BJP4India feels that there is no govt orchestrated violence. Now is the time to prove the same by hosting @realDonaldTrump's event at Kashmir, Siddaramaiah tweeted.

Amid concerns raised by opposition parties, the government has said efforts have been made to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir which faced months of restrictions after its special status under Article 370 was scrapped in August last year.

Siddaramaiah, who is Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly, in another tweet hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the long wall built near the airport in Ahmedabad allegedly to block the view of a slum, ahead of Trump's visit.

It is time for @realDonaldTrump to get inspired from @narendramodi. Inspiration to build decorative walls to hide not so decorative life!! he tweeted. The opposition Congress in Gujarat had accused the BJP- ruled civic body in Ahmedabad of building the 500-meter long wall to block the view of a slum colony. Refuting the allegations, AMC officials had said the construction of the wall, around four feet in height, was approved much before Trump's Gujarat visit was finalised.

Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump and a high-level delegation, arrived in Ahmedabad around noon on Monday for a little less than a 36-hour-long trip.

Bengaluru, Feb 26: Congress leaders on Wednesday staged a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue at Vidhana Soudha here against BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yathnal's alleged remarks accusing freedom fighter HS Doreswamy of being a "Pakistani agent".

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, KPCC working president Eashwar Khandre also joined the protest.

Yathnal on Tuesday called Doreswamy a fake freedom fighter and a Pakistani agent, while addressing the media.

His comments triggered a controversy drawing sharp remarks from Congress and other parties.

Congress has demanded an apology from Yathnal and has also urged that his Assembly membership be cancelled.

"Session proceedings will not continue until Yathnal apologises," said senior Congress leader HK Patil while addressing the protest earlier today.

Siddaramaiah asserted that making "provocative" comments against such a freedom fighter is obnoxious.

Former KPCC president Dr G Parameshwar said: "Yathnal is a criminal who had mentioned in his election affidavit that he had 27 cases against him. He has made such loose comments against the freedom fighter. He should apologise for his remarks."

Shivaji is a great icon in Maharashtra. Different sections of society have given him very high status, though for diverse reasons. Folklores about him abound in the state. His statues, popular songs on him are very prevalent. These folk songs (Powadas) praise his multifarious actions. So it was no surprise that when Jayabhagwan Goyal, released his book, ‘Aaj ka Shivaji: Narendra Modi’, at religious-cultural meet organized by Delhi BJP, there was a strong resentment in Maharashtra. Various leaders from Maharashtra were furious. The Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut challenged the Shivaji’s descendent, Sambhaji Raje who is in BJP and is member of Rajya Sabha, to resign on the issue. Sambhaji Raje in turn stated that "We respect Narendra Modi, who was elected as the prime minister of the country for the second time. But neither (Narendra) Modi nor anybody else in the world can be compared with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,"

Not to be left behind Jitendra Awhad of NCP felt Modi-BJP are insulting the pride of Maharashtra. It is not the first time that controversy is erupting around the Maharashtra warrior of medieval period. Earlier we had seen Sambhaji Brigrade demanding the ban on James Laine book, Shivaji: ‘A Hindu King in an Islamic Kingdom’, for its objectionable content. Bhandarkar Institute in Pune, which had helped James Laine in his research, was also vandalized. At another level there was a talk that Babasaheb Purandare, a Brahmin, who has written some popular material on Shivaji will be made as the Chairman of the committee for statue of Shivaji. Maratha Mahasangh and Shiv Dharm officials objected to a Brahmin heading the committee for a statue for the Maratha warrior. The caste angel in Shivaji’s case is coming to the fore from quite some time.

While there is no dearth of controversies around Shivaji, it is also true that each political tendency has created Shivaji’s image from their political point of view. Who was the real Shivaji, is the question. One can see two clear streams of projection in this matter. On one hand there is an attempt to present Shivaji as the anti Muslim King, a king who was respecting Cows and Brahmins (Go Brahman pratipalak). This view was brought forward from the times of Lokmanya Tilak and picked up by Hindu nationalists, who have been looking for icons in history to suit their political agenda. Nathram Godse, while criticizing Gandhi says that Gandhi’s nationalism was dwarf in front of the one of Shivaji or Rana Pratap.

In tune with this the Hindu nationalists are promoting both these as icons of Hindu nationalism and giving anti-Muslim slant to the whole discourse. This discourse also hides in this the Brahmanical agenda of Hindu nationalism as Cows and Brahmins are presented as the central object of veneration by Shivaji. This image of Shivaji fits well into the current agenda of Hindu nationalists, being spearheaded by RSS Combine.

It is because of this that for seeking votes in Mumbai Narendra Modi on the eve of 2014 elections stated that Shivaji attacked Surat to plunder the treasury of Aurangzeb. This also presents Shivaji-Aurangzeb, Shivaji-Afzal Khan interactions as battle between Hindus and Muslims. The truth is that Surat was plundered for its wealth as it was a rich port city and Bal Samant’s book on the topic gives in depth description of the same. It is noteworthy that Shivaji began his real career of conquest in 1656 when he conquered Javli from the Maratha Chief Chandra Rao More. He took over the treasures of this kingdom. That it was not a Hindu Muslim battle becomes clear when we know that in confrontation with Aurangzeb it was Mirza Raja Jaisingh who was negotiating and engaging with Shivaji on behalf of Aurangzeb. And Shivaji had Muslim officers like Kazi Haider as confidential secretary and many Muslim Generals in his army.

Darya Sarang was chief of armor division, Daulat Khan was in-charge of his naval division; Ibrahim Khan was another general of significance in his army.  This mixed up administration just shows that the kings were not having Hindu or Muslim administration depending on their religion. In the confrontation between Shivaji and Afzal Khan, Rustam-e-Jaman was Shivaji’s side and Afzal Khan had Krisnaji Bhaskar Kulkarni on his side.

As far as Shivaji’s popularity is concerned it was due to his being a King with welfare of his subjects in his mind. He lightened the burden of taxation on the average peasants, and reduced the domination of landlords over the serfs. This picture of Shivaji is well documents in the booklets by Com. Govind Pansare (Who was Shivaji) and Jayant Gadkari (Shivaji: Ek Lok Kalyankari Raja- Shivaji: King doing People’s Welfare). He did not belong to the warrior caste so Brahmins had refused to coronate him, for which purpose Gaga Bhatt a Brahmin from Kashi was brought in with heavy fees. Teesta Setalvad’s hand book on History for teachers underlined this fact.

Today while BJP-Brahmanical forces want to present Shivaji as worshipper of Brahmins and cows, the non upper caste have seen through the game. As such it was Jotirao Phule who brought forward the caste angel of Shivaji as he wrote Powada (Poem) in his honor and today dalit Bahujan are not toeing Hindu Nationalist projection on the issue.

The likes of Jayabhagwan Goyal of BJP as such are trying to give two messages through such attempts. One hand they want to paint Shivaji in anti Muslim and Brahmanical color, they also want to give the subtle message of similarity of this presentation of Shivaji with what Modi is doing. Non BJP forces have seen this game and want to present the other picture of Shivaji, which was highlighted by the likes of Jotirao Phule and which today many of those standing for rights of dalit-Bahujan are trying to articulate. The criticism of the said, book, since withdrawn is on these twin aspects. One about the picture of Shivaji who was concerned about welfare of the farmers, and two his respect for people of all religions.