Shivaji: The First Terrorist Killer

On 24 November, the Shiv Sena clubbed the 26/11 anniversary with the 350th year of Afzal Khan-Shivaji episode

After the pasting at the hustings, come the antics. The Shiv Sena—not happy with the ‘Sachin-are-you-a-Maharashtrian’—fiasco, exercised their faculties with some facility last week. As their way of commemorating 26/11, the party last week had an earth-shattering idea, of tying another commemoration with it. 24 November marked 350 years of Shivaji disembowelling Mughal general Afzal Khan (with a bichwa—tiger claws) at the Pratapgarh fort in Maharashtra. Adding a contemporary twist to the posters, were pictures of 26/11 martyrs Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte and Tukaram Omble alongside. Below the poster, in typo-besmirched English read the caption, ‘Terrorism must be finised like this …’. Lest you be confused, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut was eager the message behind the image wasn’t missed. “We wanted to show that Shivaji Maharaj was the first person in India to kill a terrorist. And the country should be inspired by that.” But it didn’t cut ice with the authorities. No sooner were the images up, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation razed them as the Sena didn’t have a No-Objection Certificate from the Mumbai Police Commissioner’s office. To boot, Sanjay Raut says the Sena is planning to establish 24 November as ‘Anti-Terrorism Day’ called ‘Shivpratap Din’. Clearly, for the Sena, cricket and history can both go to hell.

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