A replica of one of Maharashtra's most storied hill forts found a new home in Nagpur on Monday, November 9, 2026 — and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari was there to mark the moment, calling the initiative 'highly praiseworthy and noteworthy' for bringing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's history to today's youth.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Pratapgad fort replica — organised jointly by Nagpur City Multistate Co-operative Credit Society and Killedar Pratishthan — Gadkari spoke at a cultural programme that combined the replica unveiling with a folk-narrative event (lok aakhyan) rooted in the life and times of Shivaji Maharaj.

Gadkari's words on Shivaji Maharaj

'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is our deity,' Gadkari said, in Marathi. 'He was an ideal in every sense.' The minister underlined that the culture and history of Shivaji's era must reach today's younger generation — and that this fort replica and life-story narration project is precisely the kind of effort to make that happen.

Why Pratapgad carries such weight

Pratapgad, the hill fort in Satara district, is not just brick and mortar in the Maharashtrian imagination. Built on Shivaji's orders, it became the site of the decisive 1659 battle against the Bijapur Sultanate's general Afzal Khan — a confrontation that cemented Shivaji's military legend and set the Maratha Empire on its rise. A physical replica in Nagpur puts that legend in a civic setting, accessible to schoolchildren and families who cannot make the trek to the Sahyadri range.

Fort replicas as cultural outreach in Maharashtra

Across Maharashtra, heritage organisations have long used fort replicas, folk performances and oral storytelling to keep Shivaji's legacy alive in urban spaces. Nagpur — the state's winter capital and Gadkari's home constituency — becomes another node in that living heritage network. Politicians from every major party attend such events; the shared reverence for Shivaji transcends political lines even as it carries obvious cultural capital.

For Gadkari, a Nagpur native who has built his public identity around the city, being present at an event that links local civil society to one of Maharashtra's founding narratives is a natural fit. The lok aakhyan format — story-telling rooted in folk tradition — adds an accessible, oral layer to what could otherwise be a static exhibit.

If the replica draws the crowds its organisers hope for, Nagpur may well see more such Shivaji-linked cultural installations — keeping a 17th-century general's story firmly in the 21st-century public square.