Shivaji Maharaj developed Hindu vote bank, Vajpayee, Advani, Modi nursed it: Maharashtra BJP chief

Patil was speaking to reporters on Tuesday following the BJP's victory in four out of the six seats in the state Legislative Council polls

In a statement that sparked off a political controversy in Maharashtra, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil stated that the Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was the first to create a Hindu vote bank and leaders like Narendra Modi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani carried it forward.

The three ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi allies - Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress - lashed out at Patil, who had also served as state revenue minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-government.

“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and several ‘sant’ and ‘mahant’ developed a Hindu vote bank….late (prime minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee, (former deputy prime minister and home minister) Lal Krishna Advani and (prime minister) Narendra Modi cultivated and nursed it,” Patil said while speaking to reporters in Pune.

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Patil's statement came when he was driving home a point on tickets and vote banks. “…one must remember that a ticket (to contest an election) belongs to the party…the vote bank belongs to the party,” he said.

Patil went on to add that Veer Savarkar and then Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray inculcated the ideology among the people. “That is why Balasaheb is called HindiHriday Samrat,” he said.

Reacting to the statement, Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said: “….I do not know whether Shivaji Maharaj created a Hindu vote bank, but I am aware that he laid the foundation of the ‘Hindavi’ swaraj (self-rule of Hindu people).”

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He said that Shiv Sena fought a bye-election in 1992 on Hindutva. “At that time, no one imagined that the Sena could contest the elections on the issue of Hindutva….we must recall that Shiv Sena MLAs Ramesh Prabhu, Suryakant Mahadik had even been disqualified for contesting elections on the issue of Hindutva. I don’t see any MP or MLA from BJP facing this,” he said.

NCP MP Amol Kolhe said that it is a highly condemnable statement. “I think, Patil must brush up his history,” said Dr Kolhe, who had essayed the role of Shivaji Maharaj in a TV serial.

“The way Patil made a statement shows the mentality of Sangh Parivar-BJP…they are trying to compare Shivaji Maharaj with Narendra Modi,” said Congress’s state general secretary Sachin Sawant.

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