Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday apologised to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and those hurt by the collapse of the warrior king’s statue in coastal Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not just a name or a king. For us, he is our deity. Today, I bow my head at his feet and apologise to my deity,” Modi said, after laying the foundation stone of the Rs 76,000 crore Vadhvan Port project in Maharashtra’s Palghar district.
“Our values are different. For us, nothing is bigger than our deity,” Modi said. “Some people keep abusing Veer Savarkar but are not ready to apologise for insulting him,” he said.
“The moment I landed here, I first apologised to Shivaji Maharaj over the statue collapse. I also apologise to the people who were hurt by the collapse,” he said.
Modi said when he was declared the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, he visited Raigad, the capital of the Shivaji’s kingdom, and meditated before the Maratha king’s samadhi.
These are Modi’s first remarks after the statue collapsed at the coastal Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg district.
The collapse of the statue sparked a state-wide outrage, with the opposition targeting the government and accusing it of insulting Shivaji Maharaj.
Modi said his government is focusing more on the development of coastal villages.