The toppling of a 35-foot statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji has raised a lot of outrage from Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, who tagged the Eknath Shinde government as negligent. Even during a joke maro protest carried out by the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Thackeray referred to the recent apology that Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered as arrogant while stating that the people of Maharashtra have rejected it.
He stressed more the insult of the statue’s fall. Thackeray retorted, “For what is the Prime Minister apologizing? For the statue he inaugurated eight months ago?” Modi accepted the insult and offered an apology to the Shiv Sena party workers for the statue’s breaking. He underlined that the statue was very dear to the people of Maharashtra as it represented its rich culture and history.
BJP slammed the opposition for politicizing matters, saying that they are out to malign the state’s image. BJP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena also condemned the opposition parties for politicizing the issue. Speaking to this, Thackeray stressed respecting the state pride and said, “We came here to the Gateway of India to tell the Mahayuti government, ‘gross-out.’ ”
Top leaders from the INDIA bloc, such as Sharad Pawar and Nana Patole, participated in the protest, stressing the issue of corruption. Later, police detained the consultant who was involved in structuring the building and the contractor who was engaged in building construction, charging them with serious safety offenses.
