Maharashtra Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has lashed out at the Maha Vikas Agaadi (MVA) government after BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar was barred from entering Choundi, the birthplace of Maratha Queen Ahilyabai Holkar on her birth anniversary. Fadnavis said that while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is organizing a political event on her birth anniversary, it is a dire attempt to hijack her legacy through the institutions of the state.
On the occasion of the birth anniversary of 18th Century Maratha Queen Ahilyabai Holkar, it has been a tradition in Maharashtra that leaders from all political parties reach her birthplace in Choundi, a village in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. There, they pay their respects to the legendary queen on her birth anniversary. This year, NCP leader Sharad Pawar organised a rally at Choundi to mark the ceremony.
Meanwhile, a convoy of BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar, who was going to Choundi, was stopped by the police. He was accompanied by political leader Sadabhau Khot, President of the Rayat Kranti Sanghatana and other party activists. The resultant skirmish between Padalkar’s supporters and the police caused a traffic jam on the Ahmednagar-Solapur road. Reportedly, BJP MLA from the Karjat-Jamkhed area, Prof. Ram Shinde who belongs to the lineage of Ahilyabai’s family was also restricted from entering the event.
After the development, Maharashtra BJP leader Devendra Fadanvis was quick to lash out at the NCP for turning Ahilyabai’s Jayanti into a ‘political event’. “Ahilya Devi’s birth anniversary is always celebrated without any party affiliation. People from all parties come there, but this time using government machinery, an attempt was made to hijack the legacy of Rajmata Ahilya Devi Holkar. This is highly condemnable,” he said.
BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar who has a history of speaking out against NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar has been adamant about reaching Choundi to pay his respects to Devi Ahilyabai. While talking to the media he asked, “If this is supposed to be a social function, what is Rohit Pawar (Pawar’s grandson) doing on the stage? Have you ever seen him earlier here? Sharad Pawar, who has completed 50-60 years in politics has never come here. What was the sudden need to appear at Choundi?”
Padalkar said that while (the NCP) is trying to whitewash Ahilyabai’s history, they’ve done nothing to conserve the ancestral fort of the Holkars at Wafgaon. “I’ve been coming at Choundi every year since I was 18. Pawar was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra four times, and yet he never felt the need to come here. They have descended here in 2022 and are accusing us of making it political,” he asserted.
Moreover, he alleged that leaders of the MVA government are trying to erase the real history of Ahilyabai Holkar. he said, “The pious works of Ahilyabai in Maharashtra and the whole of India to restore our temples are not being acknowledged. Ahilyabai resurrected the Hindu religion in a way. Subedar Malharrao Holkar went to Kashi in an attempt to restore the Gyanvapi. The whole of the politics of these people has been anti-Hindu, then what gives them the right to enter Ahilyabai’s birthplace?”
It should be noted that Gopichand Padalkar is a major political figure among the leaders of the Dhangar caste in Maharashtra, to which Ahilyabai Holkar also belonged. Since Padalkar’s elevation in the BJP, the Dhangars have also moved to the BJP in the recent elections.
