Satara ruler Pratapsinh Bhosale started 1st school for women, Mahatma Phule emulated him: Udayanraje

Descendant of Shivaji Maharaj claims ancestor started first school for women, sparking controversy with opposition Congress.

BJP MP Udayanraje Bhosale on Friday (April 11, 2025) claimed that it was Satara ruler Pratapsinh Bhosale who started the first school for women in India, and Mahatma Phule emulated him in championing the cause of women's education.

Opposition Congress, however, hit out at him for the "mischievous" remark and for "distorting history".

Mr. Bhosale, who is a descendent of Maratha empire founder Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and belongs to the Satara branch of the royal family, was speaking to reporters at Phule Wada on Mahatma Phule's birth anniversary.

"If one sees it minutely, Mahatma Phule followed the teachings of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on communal harmony and equality. He was a visionary and economist who spent his lifetime earnings for society's welfare," the Satara MP said.

It was Thorale (senior) Pratapsinh Bhosale who first started a school for women in his palace in Satara, the BJP leader asserted.

"From one perspective, Mahatma Phule emulated him. Even Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar completed his primary education at the same palace," he said.

Social reformers Mahatma Phule and his wife Savitribai are considered pioneers of women's education in India. Phule is credited for starting the country's first school for girls in 1848 in Pune.