New Delhi: Politics over Hindutva icon and legendary Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivjai Maharaj picked up steam in the nation’s capital with BJP and Congress heavyweights paying tribute to India’s “greatest warrior” on his birth anniversary on Monday.
President Ram Nath Kovind, vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi paid tribute to the great Maratha warrior. A grand event was also organised for the first time in New Delhi to mark the occasion. This was seen as an effort by the ruling BJP to send a signal to its core votebank and also to woo the powerful Marathas, who are now demanding reservations in Maharashtra, a state now under BJP-Shiv Sena rule.
Mr Kovind, who participated in the event organised by the descendant of the Maratha king and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sambhaji Raje Chhatrapati, described Shivaji as a “system builder”.
