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'I am a warrior': Sanjay Gaikwad, MLA from Eknath Shinde's Sena, explains why he hit canteen staff over food quality
‘My natural reaction,’ says Gaikwad, whose video has gone viral, ‘If someone does not understand Hindi, or Marathi, or English, then this is… Shiv Sena style’
Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad called himself a “yoddha” (warrior) as he emphatically justified his assault of canteen staff at a hostel for MLAs in Mumbai, calling it “the Shiv Sena style”.
“It was my natural reaction,” said Gaikwad, from deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, “If someone does not understand Hindi, or Marathi, or English, then this is how we do it."
He claimed ready expertise in identifying old or stale food — “I can tell within a minute by just smelling it” — and blamed “rotten” dal and rice served to him for his temper.
“I ordered dal, roti and rice around 9.30, Tuesday night. That's my set dinner time. I mixed the dal and rice but the very first morsel tasted odd. I took another and that made me vomit,” he explained.
That's when he walked to the canteen from his room. There, he confronted the canteen manager, who “could not explain himself”, so he proceeded to punch him. He slapped and shoved others there too.
Watch | Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad slaps canteen staff in Mumbai over stale food, ‘no regrets’
Asked by the PTI reporter if violence could be justified even if the food was not right, he said, “Thousands of people come here as this is a government canteen. I am a representative of the people. If someone does not understand the language of democracy, this is going to be my language. This is the Shiv Sena style.”
“I used the language Balasaheb Thackeray taught us,” he told NDTV in another interaction. “Meri satak gayi (I lost it). I am a champion in judo, gymnastics and karate and wrestling. I can also use swords.”
He proceeded to make the reporter smell the dal-rice that was another day old by this time. He was carrying it in a poly bag: “You tell me! This is not fit for dogs even.”
He later carried polybags with that food to the Maharashtra assembly too.
‘Not about language’
Since he mentioned “language” multiple times, the reporter asked how this was different from recent violence in the name of language, referring indirectly to the assault on traders by workers of Raj and Uddhav Thackeray's parties.
“Did the canteen staff have it written on his forehead as to what language he spoke? That was not the issue here. And I have no regrets,” he stressed.
The canteen staff have, so far, not explained their side of the story.
Also read: MNS, Shiv Sena (UBT) defy cops to stage protest march
Gaikwad has starred in viral videos of violence, or the threat thereof, in the past too.
Last year, a day after triggering a row by announcing a reward for those who would chop off Rahul Gandhi's tongue, he was heard saying in a video that he would bury any "Congress dog" who tries to enter an event attended by Eknath Shinde, who was CM then.
