Phule statue: Temporary flex board up, Corporation to put up the entire poem in a few days

Temporary flex board with Mahatma Jyotiba Phule's couplet reinstalled at Nasik memorial after controversy over missing word 'Shudra'.

A temporary flex board with Mahatma Jyotiba Phule’s famous couplet from the renowned text ‘Shetkaryacha Asud’ has been put up at the grand memorial of social reformers Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule in Nasik. This was done after the metal wordings on the memorial were pulled down due to a controversy over the dropping of the word ‘Shudra’ from the text.

“Temporary flex has been put up. We have started the fabrication work for words. These are acrylic words. Their painting will be completed in the next four-five days. The work of the reinstallation of these words will also be completed soon,” Sanjay Agarwal, city engineer of Nasik Municipal Corporation told The Hindu. The temporary flex has the akhanda (unbroken, continuous) text.

A grand memorial consisting of 18-feet bronze statues of renowned social reformer couple Mahatma Jytoiba Phule and Savitribai Phule was recently inaugurated at Nasik at the hands of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. The memorial is the brainchild of senior NCP AP leader Chhagan Bhujbal.

The memorial had included an inscription from Mahatma Jyotiba Phule’s famous work ‘Shetkaryacha Asud’ (the whip of a farmer). The original lines read — “Vidyevina mati geli. Mati vina niti geli. Niti vina gati geli. Gati vina vitta gele. Vittavina shudra khachle. Evdhe anartha eka avidyeni kele”. When translated, it means, “Without knowledge, wisdom was lost, without wisdom righteousness was lost. Without righteousness, progress was lost. Without progress, wealth was lost. Without wealth, the shudra suffered. So much disaster was caused by the lack of knowledge”.

But the line with the word ‘shudra’ was absent from the inscription at the memorial. On Tuesday, the entire couplet was pulled down. Thereafter, a temporary flex with the entire text was put up at the location.