'Shettys of south have defamed Maharashtra's culture': Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad, who slapped canteen staffer over stale food

Shiv Sena legislator Sanjay Gaikwad, who was recently caught on camera assaulting a canteen staffer for allegedly serving him stale food, raked up yet another controversy, blaming the "Shettys" for the incident and adding that Marathis would never serve stale food.

In an interaction with NDTV, Gaikwad said, "These Shettys have been playing with our lives for a long time. Today, they tried to play with my life.” 

My stomach isn't good, and I have been disturbed over it for the last 20 years. The slightest mistake can land me up with a stomach ache.”

Gaikwad went on to bash the Shetty community further, accusing it of "defaming Maharashtra's culture". “The Opposition shares their views, but do they not know that these Shettys of the south have defamed Maharashtra's culture, be it in terms of dance bars or ladies bars. These things have been going on in Maharashtra for a long time and are being done by the Shettys. Shetty is not written on his forehead, but the hotel belongs to the Shettys."

When asked if he would have reacted differently if the staffer was a Marathi, he said, “This is not a question about Marathis. Firstly, Marathis wouldn't have made such a mistake. The people of Maharashtra have never run a dance bar or a ladies bar; they have never done such acts; only outsiders do such acts. Earlier, Balasaheb had also protested these."

The Buldhana MLA had kicked up a controversy after a video of him slapping an employee of the Akashvani MLA hostel at Church gate surfaced online. Gaikwad had, reportedly, ordered dinner from the canteen on Tuesday, but found the rice and dal stale. The legislator then went to confront the canteen contractor with the food, and assaulted him. 

The canteen licence was suspended after the incident by the Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condemned the MLA’s actions and said that he should have just made a formal complaint and that his conduct undermined the house decorum. "We came to know that the facilities were not up to the mark, and the food was stale. Whatever it is, one can register a complaint. I request you (Chair) deal with it independently. But, for a public representative to assault someone, and the video getting circulated is not good," he said.