A number of members of the Bajrang Dal protested exterior former MLA and Konkani author Uday Bhembre’s home in Margao Friday evening demanding an “clarification” for a video during which the latter contested some historic claims not too long ago made by Goa chief minister about seventeenth Century Maratha king, Shivaji. The protesters accused Bhembre of “insulting Chhatrapati Shivaji and distorting historical past”.
The protesters, who had beforehand burnt Bhembre’s effigy, dispersed after a quick argument with the author’s son and his buddies. Bhembre, 85, performed a pivotal position throughout the Konkani language agitation and received Sahitya Akademi award in 2015 for his play ‘Karnaparva’.
At a state-level perform to have fun Shiv Jayanti final week, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant mentioned it was a false impression that the Portuguese dominated ‘whole’ Goa for 450 years and that solely three talukas of Goa have been below Portuguese rule for that interval whereas the remaining have been below Shivaji’s rule.
Sawant added {that a} majority of individuals in Goa have been saved from being transformed to Christianity resulting from Shivaji’s rule.
In his video uploaded Thursday, Bhembre, a former MLA from Margao constituency, uploaded a video on YouTube, referring to the claims made by Sawant in his speech and cited some texts to contest it.
Defending his video, Bhembre informed The Indian Categorical: “I’ve not expressed any of my opinions, as a result of I’m not a historian. I simply quoted historians to say that what was talked about [in the speech] just isn’t historical past. I offered info. I respect Shivaji as a hero in our nationwide historical past. I’ve not mentioned something in opposition to Shivaji”.
He additional mentioned: “One of many protesters informed me ‘You don’t have any proper to say something about Shivaji’ and accused me of ‘dividing Hindus’. They mentioned ‘you make movies about Shivaji, however you don’t make movies on the Portuguese and the Inquisition…my spouse intervened and informed them that I’ve written books on it, in the event that they don’t learn, then what can we do? I’m a citizen of India. And the Structure offers me each proper to precise my views. Who’re you to present anyone any proper or withdraw any proper? The concept, in response to me, is to threaten any person who’s going to inform the reality.”
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Quoting his video, Bhumbre mentioned the chief minister was right that Portuguese didn’t have management over the entire of Goa for 450 years.
“I narrated the historical past as to how completely different talukas got here into their possession at completely different instances. Tiswadi taluka is the one taluka, which was of their possession for 450 years as a result of it was conquered in 1510. Bardez and Salcete talukas have been ceded by Adil Shah…Portuguese didn’t conquer these, they have been ceded in one other context in 1543. They conquered Ponda taluka in 1763. The remainder of the six talukas got here below Portuguese solely between 1781 and 1788…,” he mentioned.
However he additionally refuted the ‘concept’ about Shivaji’s rule in seven talukas in his video.
“I mentioned Shivaji by no means dominated over Goa. He by no means conquered any territory within the state. Shivaji, not less than outwardly, had good relations with the Portuguese as a result of that they had a typical enemy. A lot in order that when Shivaji determined to construct his Navy, he requested the Portuguese to present him craftsmen. The Portuguese gave him the craftsmen, who constructed 20 ships…all that is mentioned in Dr Pissurlekar’s e book on Portuguese-Maratha relations. On the declare that Shivaji stopped the conversions, I mentioned it’s improper. The conversions began in 1540, whereas Shivaji was born in 1630. I requested ‘how a lot time will it take [for conversions] in solely 4 talukas, the place the inhabitants was lower than 2 lakhs?’ So, Shivaji by no means interfered with that and if Shivaji had carried out that, he wouldn’t have approached the Portuguese for craftsmen…The conversions continued even after Shivaji’s demise,” he added.
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Viraj Desai, state convenor of Bajrang Dal, mentioned: “Within the video, Bhembre has made some insulting statements in the direction of Shivaji. It was not a protest, we had simply gone to ask for a clarification. We informed him we recognise his contribution to the Konkani motion. We mentioned which you can object to anybody, however don’t use Shivaji Maharaj for politics or to settle political scores.”
