Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Saturday that he will spearhead efforts to get a statue of freedom fighter Swami Ramanand Teerth installed in New Delhi after Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar raised the matter. Shinde was speaking at a function organised for the ground breaking for different projects in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, earlier Aurangabad, in the Marathwada region.
The state government is holding a special cabinet meeting in the city on Saturday to mark the 75th anniversary of the Marathwada Liberation Day, also known as Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din, celebrated on September 17 annually. Marathwada was once a part of the Nizam-ruled Hyderabad kingdom.
Earlier, Pawar said at the event that a statue of Swami Ramanand Teerth, an iconic figure in the region, should be installed in the national capital.
Responding to Pawar, Shinde said, “Looking at the contribution of Swami Ramanand Teerth, there should be a statue of him in New Delhi, and I will take a lead on this. We cannot forget his sacrifice and contribution (for Hyderabad’s freedom struggle).” Ramanand Teerth was a freedom fighter, educator and activist who led the movement to free Hyderabad from the Nizam rule. He was a member of the Lok Sabha between 1952 and 1957 from Gulbarga, now in Karnataka.