00:00Everyone shouts, Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji.
00:02Every rally has his cutout.
00:04Every party claims his legacy.
00:07Every election season sees a fresh promise in his name.
00:10But here is the uncomfortable question.
00:13If Chandra Bhatti Shivaji Maharaj walked into Maharashtra today,
00:16would he recognize the politics done in his name?
00:19Or would he ask us a far more difficult question?
00:23Is this the Swaraj I fought for?
00:25That's what today's Honest Speak is about.
00:27Hello, I'm Tejas and you're watching Roquement Times.
00:30On this Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti, let's move beyond slogans.
00:33Let's look at 5 sharp reasons why Chandra Bhatti Shivaji Maharaj
00:37is not just a historical icon, but a mirror.
00:40And in that mirror, today's politics doesn't look very comfortable.
00:44But before we start, please do subscribe to Lokmat Times
00:47and press the bell, I want to never miss an update.
00:50Reason number 1. Religious friends without religious hatred.
00:54Chandra Bhatti Shivaji Maharaj fought the Mughal Empire.
00:57He fought the Adil Shahi.
00:58He built a Hindu kingdom, but he did not build it on hatred for ordinary Muslims.
01:04That distinction matters.
01:06Historical accounts, including even hostile Mughal chroniclers,
01:10note something remarkable.
01:12His armies were strictly ordered not to damage mosques,
01:15not to defuner women, not to target civilians.
01:18He had Muslim officers in his navy, Muslim soldiers in his ranks.
01:22His conflict was political, against operations, not communal.
01:26Now look at today.
01:27His name gets invoked during riots,
01:29during processions that turn violent,
01:31during speeches that divide neighbourhoods.
01:34The irony is painful.
01:36The real Chandra Bhatti Shivaji Maharaj showed that you can be deeply rooted in your faith
01:40and still protect minorities with dignity.
01:43That takes confidence.
01:45That takes moral authority.
01:46What this really means is simple.
01:48Strength does not need hatred as fuel.
01:51In times when identity politics is loud and insecure,
01:54his model of firm but fair leadership feels radical again.
01:58That is relevance.
01:59Reason number second.
02:00Absolute protection of women.
02:02Let's talk about something rarely discussed with seriousness.
02:05Chandra Bhatti Shivaji Maharaj scored around women.
02:08There was a strict standing order.
02:10No harm to women.
02:12Not even enemy women.
02:13Not even in war.
02:15The famous Kalyan incident says it all.
02:17When a captured noblewoman was presented before him as a trophy,
02:20he rebuked his own officer.
02:22He is believed to have said she should be treated like his mother, Giza Bhai.
02:26Think about that.
02:2717th century warfare and a ruler publicly correcting his own general on dignity.
02:33Now fast forward.
02:34Today's misogyny is normalized in political language.
02:37Abuse floods social media.
02:39Rape threats are issued casually.
02:41Hyper masculinity is celebrated as leadership.
02:44But Chandra Bhatti Shivaji Maharaj's masculinity looked different.
02:48It was controlled, disciplined, protective.
02:50He understood something modern politics often forgets.
02:53A ruler who cannot control his own men cannot claim moral authority.
02:58In an age where women still fear public spaces and online spaces,
03:02his uncompromising stance on dignity feels more contemporary than many manifestos.
03:08Reason number third.
03:10Farmer first, farmer later.
03:12Here is the part most speeches skip.
03:14Chandra Bhatti Shivaji Maharaj was not just a warrior king.
03:17He was an administrative reformer.
03:19His revenue system fixed land tax at roughly 40% of produce.
03:23Predictable and measured.
03:25Land was surveyed scientifically.
03:27Officers were warned not to harass farmers.
03:29Remissions were granted during crop failures.
03:32He insisted that the state deal directly with cultivators,
03:36reducing middleman exploitation.
03:38Why?
03:39Because he understood a brutal truth.
03:41If the farmer collapses, the kingdom collapses.
03:44Now look at Maharajra's rural landscape today.
03:46Debt cycles, suicides, crop failures,
03:49policy announcements that sound impressive on stage,
03:52but feel distant on the ground.
03:53We build grand memorials in his honor.
03:56But do we apply his farmer first governance?
03:59Shivaji Maharaj believed legitimacy came from fairness to the raya.
04:03The common cultivator, the peasant, not from optics.
04:07That principle is screaming for attention today.
04:10Reason number four.
04:11Living Forts vs. Contract Politics.
04:13For Chandra Bhatti Shivaji Maharaj,
04:15forts were not cynic backdrops.
04:17They were strategic nerve centers.
04:19Raigarh was governor's headquarters.
04:21Vijay Durgh strengthened naval defense.
04:23Each fort had a purpose.
04:25Economic, military, administrative.
04:27Now visit many of them today.
04:29Plastic bottles, damaged walls,
04:31maintenance battles between departments.
04:33Statues rising quickly,
04:35sometimes collapsing quickly.
04:36We argue over contracts and jurisdiction.
04:39We politicize heritage.
04:41But Shivaji Maharaj maintained his forts like lifelines.
04:44They weren't tourist hashtags.
04:46They were living institutions.
04:48If we truly respect him, the question is simple.
04:50Are we preserving his legacy with seriousness
04:53or using it for spectacle?
04:55Now fifth and final reason.
04:57Forts that survived centuries
04:59versus bridges that don't survive monsoons.
05:02Let's talk about durability.
05:03The 1960s Chandra Bhatti Shivaji Maharaj
05:06commissioned sea forts like Sindhu Durgh fort
05:09with one obsession.
05:10Permanence.
05:11Built between 1964 and 1967
05:13under architect Hiroji Indulkar,
05:15Sindhu Durgh wasn't decorative.
05:17It was engineered to defy the Arabian Sea.
05:2030 foot high rampers,
05:2212 foot thick walls,
05:24over 40 bastions,
05:25nearly 3 kilometers of fortified perimeter.
05:28Walter lead was poured into the foundations
05:31to bind stone against saltwater corrosion.
05:33The entrance gate was camouflaged so precisely
05:36that even today from the sea
05:38it remains nearly invisible.
05:40That's not symbolism.
05:42That is structural intelligence.
05:44Look at Pratapgarh fort.
05:45Completed in 1956.
05:47Purged strategically above vital passes.
05:49Dual level design.
05:50Massive bastions.
05:52Centuries of Sayyadri rain and wind
05:54still standing.
05:55Look at Rai Ghar fort.
05:56The capital he expanded.
05:58Multiple gateways.
05:59Layered fortifications.
06:00Three and half centuries later,
06:02it still dominates the landscape.
06:04Now pause.
06:0517th century engineering.
06:07No modern machines.
06:08No imported technology.
06:10No ribbon cutting ceremonies.
06:12And the structures still stand.
06:14Now bring the camera to today.
06:16The Mumbai-France Harbour link,
06:17popularly called Atalse.
06:20Inaugrated with massive celebration,
06:22costing nearly Rs. 17,000 crore.
06:24Within barely 5-6 months,
06:26cracks and defects were reported
06:28on the road leading to the bridge.
06:29Allegations flew.
06:31Questions on construction quality
06:33surfaced immediately.
06:35Then June 2025,
06:36the Kundamala bridge
06:37over the Ibrani river in Pune
06:39collapsed.
06:40Lives lost.
06:41Injuries reported.
06:42Later, it emerged that
06:43while officials initially sought
06:45Rs. 15 crore for the bridge
06:47and approach road,
06:48only Rs. 8 crore was sanctioned
06:50and a letter revealed that
06:51just Rs. 80,000 was finally allocated
06:54for the bridge work itself.
06:56Read that again.
06:57Rs. 80,000.
06:58Our roads and bridges
06:59don't last for months,
07:01let alone centuries.
07:02From molten lead foundations
07:03designed to fight the Arabian Sea
07:05to underfunded bridges
07:06collapsing in monsoon,
07:08National commentary now openly
07:10talks about an infrastructure
07:11crisis in country.
07:13Structures cracking within months.
07:15Projects designed for inauguration day,
07:17not for the next generation.
07:19Here is the question.
07:20Chhatrapadi Shivaji Maharaj
07:22built for centuries.
07:23Are today's netas building
07:24only till next election
07:26and the next commission?
07:27Because durability
07:28is not just engineering,
07:30it is intent.
07:31And that's why,
07:32even in concrete and steel,
07:34Chhatrapadi Shivaji Maharaj
07:35feels more relevant than ever.
07:37So here we are.
07:39Chhatrapadi Shivaji Maharaj
07:40is everywhere in public life today.
07:42On banners,
07:42in speeches,
07:43in slogans.
07:44But the deeper you study him,
07:46the clearer the contrast becomes.
07:48His lessons in religious equality,
07:50women's safety,
07:51farmer welfare
07:52and state architecture
07:53speak even louder today.
07:55And that is not nostalgia.
07:57That is a benchmark.
07:58Maybe that's why
07:59he feels more relevant than ever.
08:01Not because we remember him more,
08:03but because we practice him less.
08:06On this Shivaji Maharaj Jainzi,
08:08maybe the real tribute
08:09isn't another statue
08:10or another slogan.
08:11Maybe it is asking a hard question.
08:13If Chhatrapadi Shivaji Maharaj
08:15judged today's Maharashtra
08:17by his own standards,
08:18how would we score?
08:20Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji
08:21and as always,
08:22this is all Javatsi.
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