Stone Pelting At Goa's Calangute Panchayat Office Over Order to Remove Shivaji Statue

A mob threw stones at the Calangute Panchayat in Goa after an order was issued to remove a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Protesters in Calangute demanded that the panchayat immediately withdraw this order and apologise to the people./

Source : Representational Image/Getty

A mob of about 100 people threw stones at the office of Calangute Panchayat in Goa on Tuesday after its order to remove the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj installed on the roadside. People holding saffron flags marched towards the Panchayat office in the morning and demanded the order be withdrawn and started throwing stones. Nobody was injured in the incident as per the preliminary information, police said according to a report by the news agency PTI.

According to the order which was issued on Monday, the spot was earmarked for an electricity pole. So, the panchayat asked a local organisation to remove the statue of Shivaji Maharaj from the roadside. 

Protesters demanded that the panchayat immediately withdraw this order and apologise to the people.

“We are here to protest against the order of the Calangute panchayat. Shivaji Maharaj is an inspiration to everyone irrespective of religious beliefs,” said a protestor.

While the situation was getting tense, it was quickly brought under control by the police. 

According to a Times Of India report, a statue of Shivaji was installed illegally near the Calangute police station overnight on June 3 and the authorities failed to act, panchayat members said. Allegedly. The report said an organisation named Shivswarajya Calangute Trust erected the statue at that spot on the intervening night of June 2 and 3 without any permission. 

In February 2023, the Saptakoteshwar temple at Narve in Bicholim-North Goa, which was destroyed by the Portuguese during their 450-year rule, was reopened after restoration work, according to IANS. Saptakoteshwar, a form of Shiva, was one of the chief deities of the Kings of the Kadamba dynasty around the twelfth century. Historians say it was demolished by the Portuguese and later revamped in 1668 by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Maharashtra MLA Shivendra Raje Bhosale, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was present for the inauguration, expressed happiness over the restoration of the temple