New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Jitendra Awad on Saturday demanded legal action against Isha Foundation founder Zakki Vasudev, popularly known as Sadhguru , over who was the guru of 17th-century Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji.

In a YouTube video titled “Why Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Still Lives in People’s Hearts” uploaded on May 1, Sadhguru shares a detailed story about the Maratha ruler. According to Sadhguru, the philosopher Ramdas Swami Chhatrapati was Shivaji’s guru and he gave his saffron robe to Shivaji and instructed him to use it as the flag of the kingdom.

Ramadas gave him his orange cloth and said, ‘Use this as your banner, go back and rule the country, but know that this is not your kingdom. If you know it doesn’t belong to you, you don’t belong and you do what you can for people. That is how you should rule.’ Shivaji always used an orange cloth or flag as his banner, and he administered the kingdom in a very intelligent manner,” Sadhguru said in the video.

The contents of NCP chief Awhad’s  Sadhguru’s video, which often spread false information about the Maratha ruler and insulted the state of Maharashtra and its people, was deemed a “false story”.

“Maharashtra will not tolerate this humiliation. State Govt should take strict legal action in this matter otherwise it will lead to public anger!” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Sadhguru is yet to respond to Awad’s complaint about the content of his video.
Past events
Awhad’s  response to Sadhguru’s video is not the first time controversy has arisen around Ramdas Swami and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The historical legacy of Maratha rulership on the culture and society of modern Maharashtra is a frequently debated topic.

According to a report by ThePrint in March this year, former Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari faced criticism from Maha Vikas Akadi (MVA) alliance leaders and BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Udayanraje Bhosale, a direct descendant of Shivaji, for making the same demand. Ramdas Swaji’s “Guru”. According to the MVA parties and Maratha organizations that staged protests at that time, Chhatrapati Shivaji’s mother Jijabhai was his real guru.

The validity of the records of Shivaji’s relationship with Ramdas also remains controversial, with Shraddha Kumbojkar, professor and head of the history department at Pune University’s Savitribai Phule, and Kolhapur-based historian Indrajeet Sawant telling The Print that the claim originated from a Brahmin. A subsidiary body was taken away from the Bahujan Samaj.

The controversy over the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji goes back to 2004, when the Congress-NCP government banned book by James Laine titled Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India after widespread protests.