Ahilyabai's thoughts more important than statues: Gadkari

Mumbai, Jun 1 (PTI) Union Minister Nitin Gadkari rued on Sunday the lack of efforts in transforming society by prioritising Ahilyabai Holkar's thoughts even as he pointed out sentimentality in demands for building statues of historical personalities and renaming cities, calling for a rational approach.

Stressing that he was not against erecting statues and changing the names of cities, the BJP MP highlighted the importance of Holkar's vision.

Addressing an event marking the 300th birth anniversary of Lokmata Ahilyabai Holkar in Nagpur, Gadkari said, "We erect statues, but do we listen to the thoughts of that great personality?" Gadkari said Ahilyabai Holkar propagated social and economic equality across castes, religions and genders.

"Those were her thoughts. We pay respects to great historical personalities. However, we lose direction and end up erecting only statues and changing the names of cities. I am not against it. But there has been no effort to prioritise taking society forward through Ahilyabai's thoughts, which were the foundation of her life and work." Notably, Ahmednagar district in western Maharashtra had been renamed Ahilyanagar following the Central nod to the Maharashtra government's proposal.

Gadkari said that decisions are often driven by sentiment.

"Sometimes we get sentimental rather than rational. Erecting statues is acceptable, but do we take the thought process of that person forward? If we erect a statue today, nobody goes to offer a garland to the same statue after ten years," he said.

He said leadership, work, and contributions of historical figures must be brought to the wider society to bring about real change.

"The movement gets exhausted in making demands for statues and name changes," Gadkari added.

He said the real question before us is how to take Holkar's thoughts to the maximum number of people.

"How will people benefit from her ideas and achieve social and economic upliftment? How can her thoughts help transform society and create new Ahilyabais? These things are not being prioritised," he said.

He also called for moving beyond caste associations with historical leaders.

"We cannot restrict great leaders to their caste. Babasaheb Ambedkar is not only for Dalits, Jyotirao Phule is not limited to Malis, and Ahilyabai Holkar is not only for Dhangars," he said.

Gadkari quipped, "When we visit a restaurant, we visit it because of the taste (of food), not because of the caste of the owner." PTI ND NSK