Mahatma Phule discovered Shivaji Maharaj samadhi at Raigad fort: Chhagan Bhujbal

Mumbai: Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Tuesday said social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule discovered the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj samadhi, and disagreed with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who sought to credit Lokmanya Tilak for it.

“Phule also started Shiv Jayanti Utsav,” Bhujbal, who belongs to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, told reporters.

Bhujbal’s remarks came a day after Bhagwat, speaking at an event in Pune, indicated that Tilak started the celebrations (of Shivaji Maharaj birth anniversary) at the Raigad fort.

Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar also backed Bhujbal, saying, “There is historical proof that it was Phule who discovered the samadhi of Shivaji Maharaj.”

When MNS chief Raj Thackeray made a controversial claim in 2022 that Tilak built Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s samadhi at Raigad fort, the freedom fighter's great-grandson Rohit Tilak had asserted that Phule discovered the samadhi of the Maratha king but it was Lokmanya Tilak who initiated the process of renovating it.