Jaipur, Feb 18 (PTI) The opposition BJP on Friday lashed out at the Congress leader Govind Singh Dotasra for accusing the party of giving a religious colour to the battle between Maharana Pratap and Mughal Emperor Akbar.
“The fight between Maharana Pratap and Akbar was for power but the BJP gave it a religious colour,” PCC chief Dotasra had said Thursday at a party meeting in Nagaur.
Dotasra’s statement triggered strong condemnation from BJP leaders with the party’s state president Satish Ponia maintaining that it was a fight of nationalism and not a power struggle and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje accusing the Congress of seeking to deprecate the self-respecting history of Mewar.
Facing the opposition BJP flak, Dotsara, however, stuck his gun on Friday and in a fresh tweet accused the BJP of depicting the battle between Maharana Pratap and Akbar as a “fight between Hindus and Muslims”.
Lambasting Dotasra’s statement, Poonia said earlier, “This is not for the first time that he (Dotasra) has given such a statement. They have taught distorted history. In their eyes, Akbar is great, but in this country, Maharana Pratap will remain great.” “The soil of Haldighati, which is worshipped by all, is the symbol of the battle which was fought for nationalism, self-respect and motherland,” he said, adding Dotasra’s statement showed “narrow-mindedness” of Congress and its “appeasement politics”.
Responding to Poonia’s remark, Dotasra’s tweeted again on Friday, “No one has the slightest doubt on the greatness of Maharana Pratap, he was great and will remain so.” “But the BJP has done the work to poison children’s (mind) through books by describing the fight of self-respect of Maharana Pratap in the battle of Haldighati, fought for the power of Mewar, against Akbar as a war of Hindu-Muslim. Shameful,” he added in his tweet.
Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria earlier said the struggle was for self-respect and freedom.
“He should read history. Akbar was an invader, he came to invade. You taught distorted history and termed Akbar as great.
“You felt ashamed calling Maharana Pratap great and therefore you kept on teaching Akbar as great,” he said.
“Because of your appeasement policy, your party is cornered now and if you want to finish what is remaining, then keep on making such comments so that people get to know about your thinking,” he said.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said the Congress has challenged the self-respecting history of Mewar by describing the struggle of Maharana Pratap and Akbar as a fight for power.
“Maharana Pratap continued his lifelong resolve to protect the motherland. Maharana Pratap’s battle with Akbar was not a power struggle but a struggle for the security of the nation,” she tweeted.
Raje said for the sake of the self-respect of Mewar, Pratap even ate loaves of grass in the forests.
“The Congress should apologise to the public for insulting such a mighty warrior,” she added.
The Deputy leader of the opposition also termed the statement as unfortunate.
Former education minister and BJP MLA Vasudev Devnani said what Dotasra said was an insult to Pratap who sacrificed his life to protect the pride of the motherland.
“Mahatma Gandhi praised Pratap’s bravery at the Round Table Conference in London. Even Vietnam talked of taking inspiration from the battle of Haldighati.
“After the formation of the state government, there is a constant conspiracy to weaken the glorious history of the great men,” Devnani said.
“Calling the struggle for freedom of such a great warrior as a struggle for power is a sign of a frustrated mentality,” he said.
He also tweeted praising the glory of Maharana Pratap.
During the Nagaur meeting, Dotasra had said, “BJP sees everything through the Hindu-Muslim religious point of view.” Maharana Pratap was the Rajput ruler of Mewar in Rajasthan who fought the battle of Haldighati with Mughal emperor Akbar’s forces, led by Man Singh-I of Amber, in 1576. PTI SDA VN RAX RAX
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
