MVA wants to create riot-like situation, alleges CM Shinde
The BJP also held protests at various places in the state to counter MVA’s rally in Mumbai over the statue collapse incident
Mumbai: Chief minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday alleged that the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition wants to destabilise Maharashtra and create a riot-like situation in the state. Taking up cudgels on behalf of the ruling Mahayuti coalition on a day when the MVA held a rally in Mumbai seeking punishment for those behind the collapse of the Shivaji statute at Malvan on August 26, Shinde accused the MVA of using Shivaji for political gains.
“MVA wants instability, unrest and riots in Maharashtra. They are scared about a defeat in the assembly elections as the Ladki Bahin and other schemes are receiving huge response and the popularity of the Mahayuti government increasing,” said Shinde, accusing the MVA of “playing politics over sensitive issues”. The state government, he said, will ensure that law and order is maintained despite their efforts.
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Shinde referenced recent statements by Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and Chandrakant Khaire to buttress his claim about MVA’s intention of creating a riot-like situation. Raut had, in his weekly column in the party mouthpiece Saamna, questioned the lack of vociferous protests in Maharashtra following the collapse of the Shivaji statue in Malvan, saying, “There was unrest in Maharashtra over the statue collapse incident, but the state is not burning with rage. Why?”
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Aurangabad MP Chandrakant Khaire had gone a step further, saying, “Earlier, riots used to take place after such incidents. But this time, there were no riots. It should have happened in the state.”
Alluding to the MVA’s rally in the city on Sunday, wherein posters of top Mahayuti leaders were hit with shoes, Shinde said the people of Maharashtra would hit the MVA with their footwear in the assembly polls.
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Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis too slammed the MVA on Sunday over its protests following the statue collapse incident. “I want to ask Uddhav Thackeray if he is going to ask the Congress to tender an apology for what Pandit Nehru wrote about Shivaji Maharaj in his book ‘Discovery of India’? Why did Thackeray and Sharad Pawar not utter a single word when the Congress removed statues of Shivaji maharaj in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka,” he said.
The BJP also held protests at various places in the state to counter MVA’s rally in Mumbai over the statue collapse incident. The party’s state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule led the protest in Nagpur, while Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar led the protest in the city. In Aurangabad, police detained both BJP and MVA activists who were protesting aggressively.