NAGPUR: Calling the Maha Vikas Aghadi protest on Sunday a 'politically' motivated event, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that it is sad that the opposition was doing politics on the Shivaji Maharaj issue which should not be dragged for political mileage. He also asserted that the people of the state understood their real motives and in the coming elections, the people of Maharashtra will beat them (opposition) with shoes.

Top Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Sunday held a protest march in Mumbai over the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue. MVA leaders including NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, party leaders Aaditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut, along with Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole,  participated in the march today which they named "Jode Maaro Yatra” (hit with footwear), with supporters carrying massive slippers as they marched from Hutatma Chowk to the Shivaji statue at the Gateway of India.

CM Shinde said Thackeray was doing politics in the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj while emulating the deeds of "Aurangzeb and Afzal Khan."  He said, "This movement concerning the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is very distressing for us. It is a very emotional issue for all Shivabhakts in Maharashtra. The statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not just a political issue."

He further said, "This is a very sad thing for us. Shivaji Maharaj cannot be a political issue for us, this is a matter of identity and faith for us. The incident that happened was unfortunate. Doing politics on it is a sad thing and the opposition is doing politics on this."

CM Shinde further decried an incident in Karnataka where two JCBs were brought to break the statue of Shivaji Maharaj in Karnataka, and that statue was uprooted, and said that those who did this should be beaten. "Instead of doing this, they (MVA) are protesting here, but the people of Maharashtra are wise, they are seeing this. In the coming elections, the people of Maharashtra will beat them with shoes," he added.

A 35-foot-tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Sindhudurg district collapsed on August 26. It was unveiled on December 4 last year during Navy Day celebrations, marking the first such event in Sindhudurg. The state government had expressed deep regrets about the incident and filed an FIR against Chetan Patil, the structural consultant for the Shivaji Maharaj statue who was later arrested from Kolhapur and has also formed an expert committee to look into the matter. CM Shinde has said that he was ready to apologize for the collapse of the statue not once but a hundred times.