Shivaji Maharajah's Muslim Commanders

If only Shiv Sena Chief Uddav Thackeray had followed his icon Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj he would have at least 13 Muslim MLAs and they would have remained loyal and not defect over to the BJP. Shivaji had at least 13 top commanders who were Muslim. Their names are: Siddi Halal, Daulat khan, Ibrahim Khan, Kazi Haidar, Siddi Ibrahim, Siddi Wahwah, Noor Khan Beg, Shama Khan, Hussain Khan Bigani, Siddi Mistri, Sultan Khan, Dawood Khan and Madari Mehetar. It is them who fought the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb in the mountains and the rivers, India's first example of guerilla warfare. Taking advantage of slow moving armies like the Russian army in Ukraine, he would send boulders hurtling down the mountains, creating havoc and then attacking the army. Aurangzeb called him a mountain rat. But none of Shivajis Muslim commanders defected to the Mughals. Rather the threat came from his own son Sambhaji whom he imprisoned. But he escaped with his wife and defected to the Mughal side for a year. Now Aurangabad has been named after the defector Sambhaji. One day Thane will become Eknath Shinde Nagar!

The Betrayal

My full sympathies lie with Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray. Except for his last minute renaming spree. Aurangabad should be Aurangabad, Allahabad should be Allahabad and Ahmedabad should be Ahmedabad. Mumbai should be Bombay. But that he is a leader is beyond doubt. Only a leader can walk out of the clutches of the BJP and join an alliance of parties who are very different from his own. Having fought jointly with the BJP with the understanding that there would be a Sena Chief Minister this time, the BJP went back on its word. So walking out was dignified. And he does have a spine like his father the late Bal Thackeray. Also he is better than Nitish Kumar who switched sides by midnight and remains glued to the chair, weak, old and faded Prime Ministerial material. And he is so weak that a Dharmendar Pradhan can convince him to vote for Draupadi Murmu, instead of fellow Bihari Yashwant Sinha in the Presidential polls. And Eknath Shinde has stabbed his leader in the back, much like Brutus. But Shinde is less than Brutus, his only calculation is winning the next assembly election. And retaining the Hindutva vote bank. Shinde washed the feet of Anand Dighe ,while Dighe washed the feet of Bal Thackeray, but now Shinde wants Uddhav Thackeray to wash the feet of BJP leaders for a hundred years. Also BJP hand looks uglier than the Congress during Emergency, the way they jail even ministers and it's like khullam khulla loktantra ka balatkaar. In Maharashtra the BJP want even opposition parties to vote for their Presidential candidate. In all this two men stood up to them, Uddhav and the NCP leader Nawab Mallik. About Nawab Malliks underworld connections to be continued....