The government has announced that a 192-feet tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj will be built to commemorate and celebrate the life and legacy of the great Hindu Monarch and quite predictably, the deracinated Hindus have suddenly become conscious of the burden on the state exchequer. The statue will be built with a budget of rupees 3600 crores and voices from predictable quarters are already crying hoarse over how the money could have been better spent on building schools and hospitals. On the face of it, such frivolous arguments appear to make sense but once you apply the most miniscule bit of your common sense, it becomes quite obvious how hollow and baseless such claims are.
Although 3600 crores rupees is indeed a huge sum of money but compared to the Maharashtra government’s annual revenue collection through tax and other receipts which stands at around 2 lakh crores, it is quite insignificant. Plus, those who scream about building schools and hospitals at every turn forget that both these tasks are not mutually exclusive. It’s not a case of either/or as they imagine it to be and both can be carried out simultaneously. Liberals in their obsessive over the 3600 crores also forget that infrastructure projects worth rupees 1.06 lakh crore were announced on the very same day. And then there are those who are accusing the government of building the statue for political mileage. Well, since we are living in a democracy, it is inevitable that political parties will use the taxpayer’s money for electoral gains. If they are spending it on Temples and glorification of great civilizational heroes instead of buying votes through welfare schemes and donations to Madrassas and Imams, no sensible person should have any objections whatsoever.
To put matters into perspective, Rs 3600 crores is roughly the same amount of money spent by the government on Hajj subsidy in 6 years.
To make things further clearer, it is roughly only about 7 times the money spent by the AAP government at Delhi for controlling the Media and further its own propaganda through media outlets. Also, one should bear it in mind that the people who are screaming now over the expenditure on the Shivaji Smarak are the same ones who were creating a fuss about the expenditure on India’s Mars Mission. Some people have an inherent problem with everything that is grand and majestic and ignore the fact that the government already spends lakhs and lakhs of crores on social services every year and that the Shivaji Smarak will eventually start generating significant revenue once it is open for tourists.
However, one should not pay too much heed to the liberal tears over the expenditure and feel an overarching desire to justify the decision. Shivaji Maharaj is one of the greatest of our ancestors and paying handsome tributes to him is not merely an obligation but a forbearing duty. A nation that forgets its heroes and does not cherish their legacies cannot hope to prosper. Shivaji Maharaj occupies a very special place in the sacred history of our nation and his legacy and courage should inspire us all in these dark and treacherous times.
The contribution of Shivaji Maharaj to the great civilization of ours cannot be overstated.
At a time when Bharatvarsha was being ravaged by Mahommedans, Shivaji Maharaj led the followers of Dharma against the forces that sought to subjugate our people and desecrate our Holy Land. Kaviraj Bhushan conveys it very eloquently, “Like Indra descended upon the demons, Like Raghupati descended upon Ravana… So descended Shivaji upon the mlecchas.” Indeed, if Shivaji had not risen to wreak havoc among the Mahommedans, as @ArmchairPseph says, the Indian subcontinent might have ended up as a giant sized Syria or Iraq today. It is the duty of every Indian to celebrate this great defender and protector of Dharma.
Words shall fail to describe the cultural significance and importance of the legacy of Shivaji Maharaj. India as we know it today would not have existed without this great son of the soil. Had it not been for Chhatrapati Shivaji and other great monarchs, our civilization would have been in ruins. @Rjrasva sums it up fittingly, “Without him, Srinivasa Ramanujan may have been born as Saleemuddin Rabbani & wasted his IQ on memorizing Quran.” One should remember that Shivaji Maharaj was no ordinary Monarch, again, as @ArmchairPseph says, “Shivaji was the king of all dharmikas, anointed by Devi Bhavani herself to liberate Bharatvarsha from the turshukas.”
Shivaji Maharaj stands as a towering figure in the history of our civilization. And soon, a towering statue of him will adorn the skyline of Mumbai. One could only hope that the statue would manage to capture even a miniscule bit of the grandeur of the Monarch that it would portray. It shall be our humble tribute to one of the greatest kings to have ever lived. May his strength inspire us to rise above our differences and his valor provide us with the courage necessary to do what is right and carry on our fight in the face of grave adversity. Jai Bhawani, Jai Shivaji!