Week after forcible unveiling by Amit Thackeray, Shivaji statue to be inaugurated officially today

Deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde will inaugurate the statue alongside BJP minister and Airoli MLA Ganesh Naik at 5pm on Friday, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) said in a media statement issued on Thursday evening

NAVI MUMBAI: Nearly a week after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Amit Thackeray kicked up a row in Navi Mumbai by forcibly unveiling a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj allegedly awaiting inauguration for months, the statue will be formally inaugurated on Friday.

Deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde will inaugurate the statue (HT PHOTO)

Deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde will inaugurate the statue alongside BJP minister and Airoli MLA Ganesh Naik at 5pm on Friday, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) said in a media statement issued on Thursday evening. Shinde and Naik will also inaugurate a new microbiology laboratory at MeenaTai Thackeray Hospital in Nerul during the occasion, the statement noted.

Amit Thackeray, son of MNS chief Raj Thackeray, had stormed the statue site near the Rajiv Gandhi Flyover in sector 1, Nerul last Sunday, along with nearly 70 activists. They tore down the protective covering on the statue, reportedly built at a cost of ₹46 lakh, and garlanded it amid chants of ‘Jai Shivaji, Jai Bhavani’, as reported by HT earlier.

The same night, the Nerul police booked Thackeray, MNS Navi Mumbai president Gajanan Kale, local unit chief Abhijit Desai, and other party workers for unlawful assembly, rioting, obstruction in the work of public servants, assault on public servants and other offences. Later, a police team visited ‘Shivtirth,’ the Thackerays’ residence in Dadar, and served a notice. Amit Thackeray welcomed the action, saying, “My first case is for Maharaj. If fighting for his honour is a crime, I will commit thousands more.”

The NMMC’s decision to cover up the statue again after the forcible inauguration further inflamed tensions. Thackeray vowed to inaugurate it, while MNS spokesperson Gajanan Kale wrote to Shinde and Naik, questioning their silence and asking why the statue had remained veiled since February despite being ready.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) also staged a protest at NMMC headquarters on Thursday afternoon, raising slogans against municipal commissioner Kailash Shinde and symbolically draping a curtain over a replica of the municipal building. These developments forced the administration’s hand, leading to the evening’s announcement of the official inauguration on Friday, officials said.