Two descendants of Maratha warrior king Shivaji — Shahu Chhatrapati and Udayanraje Bhosale — are contesting the Lok Sabha election from separate seats in western Maharashtra representing rival political fronts, the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the Mahayuti, respectively.
While Mr. Chhatrapati is making his electoral debut on a Congress ticket from Kolhapur and will take on the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s sitting MP Sanjay Mandlik, Mr. Bhosale is contesting from Satara on a BJP ticket and pitted against NCP (SP) candidate Shashikant Shinde. Both seats go to polls in the third phase on May 7.
Mr. Bhosale, who is currently a Rajya Sabha MP, had won the Satara seat in 2019 as a candidate of the undivided NCP, but resigned within a few months and joined the BJP. However, in the subsequent byelection, he lost to the NCP’s Shriniwas Patil.
‘Respect for all religions’
The BJP candidate says he believes in ‘Sarva Dharma Sambhava (Equal respect for all religions)’ and is critical of those who use the Hindutva ideology in politics. “In politics, people now have become more self-centred. They devise ways to fill their own coffers or further their selfish motives. They create unnecessary misunderstanding and use caste as a weapon. This is totally wrong. It is creating a rift between so many religions, which has to be stopped,” he said.
According to Mr. Chhatrapati, his ancestors always inspired him to practise the Hindutva ideology with the aim of providing liberty to people and building a broad-based kingdom where people of different backgrounds, religions, and castes live together.
‘CAA biased law’
On the question of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the Congress candidate is of the opinion that the law is biased in its current form as “it was passed with hardly any discussion”.
Mr. Bhosale, on the other hand, feels that the law should not be looked at in a negative light. “Do we really require this? As it is, our population is so big. People now want to come here because they see India as an upcoming power. Earlier, people who used to go abroad used to take up citizenship there. Now, it’s reverse migration... I believe in only one religion, which is humanity. So, I mean, everyone is most welcome to come and settle down here.”
The selection of Mr. Bhosale and Mr. Chhatrapati is also being seen as a strategic choice by the BJP and the Congress given the reverence of the electorate towards the members of the Maratha royal family.
The two candidates have also been fielded with an eye on cashing in on the agitation for Maratha reservation, which was strongly backed by Mr. Bhosale and Mr. Chhatrapati — both respected by quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil.
