Lauding the role of Maharashtra in the pre and post Independence, President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said Maharashtra always think of the nation first and not the state.
“Maharashtra can never think of the state... It always thinks of the nation,” he said after inaugurating the new Maharashtra Sadan here.
While reviewing briefly the role of Maharashtra in the freedom movement and how it had faced the 26/11 terror strike , Mr Mukherjee said Maharashtra has shown the spirit of moving ahead.
The President also said that Maharashtra and Mumbai have always shown an “indomitable spirit of moving ahead” in spite of all challenges and terror attacks once in early 90s and after 26/11 incidents.
“People of Bombay and Maharashtra have rose to the occasion... (giving the message) We are not cowed down by the attacks... We are ready to face challenges amid adversities... Salam Bombay,” he said.
He recalled how Rabindranath Tagore had written a beautiful poem on the unification of India depicting unity in diversity when Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak started a festival to pay tributes to Shivaji Maharaj.
Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said that it was apt that Mr Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the building as “Bengal and Maharashtra are two states which have created history in the country”.
While drawing attention to why Maharashtrians never settled in Delhi, he said Shivaji Maharaj came but was imprisoned in Agra, later he escaped. Peshwas expanded Maratha empire to Atttack (now in Pakistan). In fact, Surajmal Jat wanted Sadashivrao Peshwa to capture Delhi but their priority was to take bath in Ganga river.
Mr Mukherjeee, who went around the Sadan, described it as “not only the largest state house in the capital, but perhaps the most modern and state of the art building” in the category.
The Maharashtra Sadan has been designed capturing the grandeur and beauty of Maharashtra’s architecture so as to depict the state’s cultural heritage.