On 19th January 2023, the Maharashtra state government led by chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis nodded to include the name of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in the list of great men whose birth anniversaries are celebrated by the government at state level. A request in this regard was made in August 2022 by a group of Hindu ideologues and activists in Maharashtra including Shefali Vaidya and Tushar Damgude.
Sharing this on Facebook, Tushar Damgude wrote, “In August, we had requested the Government of Maharashtra to celebrate the birth anniversaries of the great personalities Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Shrimant Bajirao Peshwa, Raje Umaji Naik at the government level. Today, the name of Sambhaji Maharaj in that list was approved.”
Tushar Damgude added, “The birth anniversary of Ahilyadevi Holkar is already being regularly celebrated at the government level. By mistake, her name appeared in the requested list. It is a humble request to the Government of Maharashtra that the birth anniversary of “Rashtraguru Bhagwan Baba” should also be celebrated at the official level along with other great personalities.” It is notable that Bhagwan Baba was a Warkari Saint in 20th-century Maharashtra. He encouraged tribals like Vanjaris and others to get educated and be a part of mainstream society.
In the letter requesting the state to include more names on the list, the activists mentioned, “It is well known that many great men sacrificed everything for the freedom of the country, and Veer Savarkar is one of the most prominent ones out of them. It is a matter of great regret for all of us as Indians that such a great personality is not included in the official list of great men of Maharashtra. The recently formed government in Maharashtra claims to be the ideological legacy of Savarkar. In view of this, on behalf of all the Indian citizens, we make a humble request that Swatantryaveer Savarkar should be included in the government’s list of great men of Maharashtra.”
The letter added, “On behalf of all the Indian citizens, we make a humble request that the names of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Shrimant Bajirao Peshwa (1st), and Revolutionary Umaji Raje Naik, among the great people who worked to shape this country as Hindustan, should be included in the list of birth anniversaries to be celebrated by the Government of Maharashtra.”
The names of nine persons were recommended to the previous Maharashtra government in December 2020 to ensure that their birth anniversary is celebrated at the government level. Then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray rejected five of them and added four new persons. Of the four names approved, one name is that of his own father and Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray and the other was that of his grandfather Prabodhankar Thackeray.
The names of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Guru Nanak Singh, Guru Gobind Singh, Mata Ramai – the first wife of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, and the great revolutionary Lahuji Vastad Salve – all these names were recommended in the same year, but they were ignored. The matter has come to light from the information sought by petitioner Tushar Damgude in an RTI in this regard in 2022.
At that time, Tushar Damgude had said, “It is even sadder that in Maharashtra, known by the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the name of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj is abandoned by the party which is founded in the name of Shivaji Maharaj and calls itself a proponent of Hindutva. The general public all over India knows the great achievements of the above persons in the formation of modern Hindustan. Therefore, at least I can’t understand what exactly the Maharashtra government thought is behind the exclusion of those individuals.”
