Kripashankar Singh is the President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) and an ex-minister for state in the previous Maharashtra Government. Have been hearing his comments for quite sometime that he would become the 106th Hutatma if someone tries to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra! He is refering to Martyrs' Memorial at Hutatma Chowk in South Mumbai.
Mr. Minister… Your history seems to be weak… You have no clue what you are talking about! Like most non-Marathi people (and quite a few Marathi manoos too!), you too think that Hutatma Chowk is dedicated to Marathi freedom fighters that fought against the British. Right? Absolutely wrong!
In 1955, the States Reorganization Commission recommended that either Mumbai will be the capital of a bilingual state (Maharashtra +Gujarat) or will be made an independent city-state. Marathi manoos opposed both these options through Samyukta Maharashtra Chalwal. During one peaceful protest in 1956, under the auspices of Morarji Desai’s Congress government in Bombay state, police opened fire and killed 105 people. And finally on 1st May 1960, Maharashtra was declared as the Marathi state with Mumbai as its capital. A Soviet style memorial was erected in Fort area by Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika (BMC) in the memory of these martyrs and renamed Flora Fountain as Hutatma Chowk.
The Martyrs' Memorial
3M wonders - Let us assume that Mr. Minister knows his history well! Does that mean that by making this statement he is tendering an apology on behalf of his party for killing 105 Marathi people?
3 comments:
this statement of K Singh is more for appeasement but i dont think he meant in the british context......
HE may have implied on those 105 martyrs who died for the state's cause.....politicos are known for giving such statements to attract attention.....
By the way i think marathi and non marathi people both are unaware of the significance of Hutatma chowk......i havent anyone who seems to be aware of it...and i assure u i meet quite a lot of people both marathi and non marathi......
the sad part about our schooling system is that history stops at 1947...
probably it is by design so that only Congress can hog the limelight
Congress yes, but even before that. Read about the macaulay system of education. You and I are products of the same :)
Post a Comment