“Should we sit quitely,” UBT Sena’s Sanjay Raut justifies MVA protest against Shivaji statue collapse

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 1 (ANI): As the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s launched its protest march in Mumbai against the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue in Sindhudurg, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said on Sunday that the Aghadi would not sit quietly when such a big incident had happened and that the BJP has gone mad for holding a counter-protest against them.

Addressing a press conference here today, Raut targeted Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said that the latter is behind all of this.

“This is the problem in Maharashtra. Devendra Fadnavis is the mastermind behind all this. The whole country knows this. Modi ji also knows this. Whether it is the Chief Minister or the Deputy CM, will the problem be solved by apologizing? Let the people of Maharashtra express their feelings. Will we sit quietly? Such a big statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj got broken, that too in the fort in seven months and we will sit quietly? Are the people of Maharashtra impotent? We must do some movement in a democratic way. It is a great quality of democracy that you can protest,” he said.

He further said that the police are stopping them from holding their protest march from Hutatma Chowk to Gateway of India.

“We are being stopped. Still, all the workers of Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Nana Patole, Congress, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party will gather at the Martyr’s Memorial and will go to the statue of Shivaji Maharaj near the Gateway of India. This is our right. You cannot stop us. You can arrest us as you have the police in your hands,” he said.

The BJP is also holding a counter-protest in Dadar area of Mumbai against the Maha Vikas Aghadi. Speaking on it, Sanjay Raut said that they have gone mad.

“These people of Bharatiya Janata Party are protesting. These people have gone mad. Our movement will be in the honour of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It is not against any one government. And the crime that you have committed is that of bringing down the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and doing corruption in it. Can’t the opposition raise its voice against them in a democracy? This BJP will completely destroy Maharashtra,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) MP said.

Raut also alleged that local trains have been stopped to stop the opposition protestors from reaching the protest site.

“Today the local train has been stopped, how much fear is there in their minds in the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We are not being allowed to come, it will become difficult for our workers to reach the place of protest, that is why today the train was stopped. The bus through which our workers are going is being stopped. This is democracy in Maharashtra and you talk about West Bengal, you should be ashamed,” he said.