The politics in Maharashtra has always revolved around the public sentiments attached to legendary Maratha warrior king Shivaji, who has become synonymous with Marathi pride. It was not a surprise that the collapse of Shivaji’s statue at Rajkot fort in Sindhudurg district snowballed into a major political conspiracy in no time, particularly when the Assembly elections are due. The Opposition — Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) — have called it an insult to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. They have alleged corruption in award of the contract for the statue. Rahul Gandhi insisted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s apology is his acceptance of guilt. On the other hand, the government has accused the Opposition of engaging in politics over the unfortunate incident. Amidst the blame game, certain key questions have remained unanswered. Who was responsible for monitoring the construction of the statue and who was responsible for its maintenance? After the statue collapsed, the authorities claimed that it was due to poor quality of materials used for it. The police have arrested sculptor Jaydeep Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil. However, the Navy, state PWD and the district collector, who were involved in the process, have only passed the buck to one another. The Navy has claimed that its role was limited till it handed over the statue to the state PWD in April this year. The PWD claimed the statue was the responsibility of the district collector, who has denied his involvement in any stage. A week before the statue collapsed, the state PWD had written to the Navy about the rusted nuts and bolts used in the statue and asked to take necessary steps. Since the Navy had already handed over the statue, the PWD should have been the one taking “necessary steps”. We don’t know if the Navy took cognisance of the said letter and how. Interestingly, sculptor Apte, who is being squarely blamed for the incident, had claimed seven months ago that he was given only a quarter of the time required to complete the project and was not paid a single rupee for his work. Even if this is true, he cannot escape responsibility. But putting the entire onus on the 22-year-old sculptor’s shoulders will be a further mockery of the great king revered for his sense of justice.
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