be consistent with the party's policy to encourage demands of hardline Maratha groups. It is claimed that such a stance had helped the NCP maintain its dominance among the Maratha youth in Pune and rural Maharashtra. Sambhaji Brigade was also involved in a protest to remove the statue of Dadoji Kondadev from Lal Mahal in Pune claiming that he was just introduced as teacher of Shivaji by Brahmin historians. About 30 to 40 people entered Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and attacked Mayor's office. This led to a statewide protest by Political parties such as BJP, Shiv Sena and MNS. Following to this Government of Maharashtra (which included NCP) removed name of Dadoji Konddev from school history books stating that Government's committee of historians found no evidence that Dadoji Konddev was teacher of Shivaji. The move was heavily criticized by historians and scholars. Some members of the government-appointed committee also resigned in protest citing that the committee head Jaysing Pawar only had caste considerations in mind when submitting the report, without regard to actual historical evidence. Attack on Waghya's Statue on Raigad Fort The group was also responsible for a protest and attack against a dog's (Waghya) statue located on Raigad Fort next to Shivaji's memorial. According to legend the dog (named Waghya) was Shivaji's dog. The group claimed that the dog was not real and there should not be a memorial for it. This act was strongly opposed by local Dhangar community for they believe that the dog was real. In fact many people say that Waghya was Shivaji's dog and the reason for why the memorial was constructed over there. Ram Ganesh Gadkari bust vandalism In January 2017, four Sambhaji Brigade followers pulled down a bust of celebrated Marathi playwright Ram Ganesh Gadkari which was located in Sambhaji Park in central Pune and threw it in the nearby Mutha river. The Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) community, the community to which Gadkari belonged later organized a meeting to protest this incident at the Ram Ganesh Gadkari Rangayatan (a theater named after Gadkari) in Thane. Sambhaji Brigade claimed that Gadkari had portrayed Sambhaji in bad light in an unfinished play Rajsanyas, written a century ago by referring to some out-of-context content. Indian National Congress leader Nitesh Rane later rewarded the vandals and made inflammatory remarks claiming that he had announced a reward earlier in 2016 for removing the bust, and was