History
The park is named after the legendary 17th century warrior king of the region, Chhatrapati Shivaji. The park was created in 1925 by the Bombay Municipal Corporation, in the days of the British Raj. Through the name, the British authorities acknowledged Shivaji and the reverence his name commanded amongst the local Marathi population.
Besides being a venue for gatherings of freedom fighters in British India, after independence in 1947 Shivaji Park was the focal point of the Samyukta Maharashtra Chalval (the struggle for a consolidated Maharashtra) that led to the present Maharashtra state being formed in 1960. During this period, the legendary writer, journalist, playwright, poet and social leader Acharya Prahlad Keshav Atre led this movement, addressing crowds of lakhs at this ground, earning him the title of "Lord of Shivaji Park". On India's victory over Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and defence minister Yashwantrao Chavan addressed a Vijaysabha (victory gathering) here. Shivaji Park has been integral to the political gatherings of the local party Shiv Sena, and has witnessed numerous other political rallies.
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