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Earlier this week, on August 26, a 35-foot statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the 17th-century Maratha empire founder, installed at Rajkot Fort premises collapsed on August 26, nearly nine months after it was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday apologised to the devotees of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj after a recently-built statue of the warrior king collapsed in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district earlier this week.
Speaking on the statue collapse which has sparked protests by the Congress-led opposition in Maharashtra, Modi said he apologises to people who worship Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as their deity and have been deeply hurt by the incident.
“Those who consider Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as their deity and have been deeply hurt, I bow my head and apologise to them. Our values are different. For us, nothing is bigger than our deity,” the Prime Minister said.
#WATCH | Palghar, Maharashtra: PM Narendra Modi speaks on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue collapse incident in Malvan
He says, “Those who consider Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as their deity and have been deeply hurt, I bow my head and apologise to them. Our values are… pic.twitter.com/oLaDLDaWbI
— ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2024
Congress demands PM’s apology
Earlier, the Congress stepped up its attack on the ruling NDA dispensation in Maharashtra and demanded a public apology from PM Modi over the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue.
The Congress put up posters at various places demanding an apology from the Prime Minister. The posters depicted the PM inaugurating the statue alongside another image showing the collapsed structure.
Earlier this week, on August 26, a 35-foot statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the 17th-century Maratha empire founder, installed at Rajkot Fort premises collapsed on August 26, nearly nine months after it was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering a political storm in the state, which is due for polls in the next few months.
Shinde apologises amid protests
On Thursday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also apologised for the collapse, saying that he would not hesitate to touch the feet of the warrior king 100 times and apologise for the incident if required.
The Maharashtra government has set up a technical committee to find out reasons for the collapse even as members of the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, staged silent protests across Maharashtra over the incident.
“Chhatrapati Shivaji is a patron deity of Maharashtra. I am ready to touch his feet 100 times and apologise (for the statue crash). I will not shy away from apologising. Our government functions keeping his (Shivaji’s) ideals in mind,” Shinde insisted.
Shinde’s remarks came a day after Ajit Pawar apologised to the people of the state for the collapse of the structure which was installed in the coastal district’s Malvan tehsil, around 480km from Mumbai.
(With PTI inputs)
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