Accusation after Insult: Shiv Sena says bravery awardee Zen Sadavarte 'misleading people'

Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande on Monday alleged that National Bravery Award winner Zen Sadavarte was 'misguiding' the people during her speech after receiving the award on Sunday. Manisha Kayande said that she interrupted Sadavarte's speech because she said transgenders do not have a quota in the state.

"I intervened when she started saying that transgenders do not have a quota. I explained to her that it is not so and that transgenders do have a quota and that she was giving wrong information to the audience," Kayande said.

The Shiv Sena leader alleged that Sadavarte seemed as though she was 'in the mood to create a ruckus'. She added that one of her relatives was also shooting the incident on camera. Manisha Kayande further stressed that even though 'misguided' Sadavarte was 'creating a scene', the party leaders were polite to her.

"I think she is misguided. It was not the platform as she was not invited to give a speech. But still, we allowed her to speak for almost 15 minutes," Kayande said.

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Zen Sadavarte interrupted 'for not speaking in Marathi'

Shortly after the incident took place on Monday, Zen Sadavarte alleged that her speech was interrupted by Shiv Sena leaders as she did not know how to speak Marathi.

"When I spoke in Hindi and English, everybody got the message. But I don't know what happened to the people on the stage. They started getting angry and attacked me. The panel on the stage consisted of Shiv Sena leaders," Sadavarte had told ANI.

"I talked about several issues that affect India, things that are going wrong in the country. Like mid-day meals are not given to children on Saturdays and Sundays. Those are the issues I talked about. I talked about horizontal reservation to be given to transgenders," Sadavarte said.

WATCH | Shiv Sena Neta Interrupts Bravery Awardee Zen Sadavarte 'For Not Speaking In Marathi'

'MLAs began to humiliate me'

Sadavarte said that the Shiv Sena MLAs began to humiliate her for not speaking in Marathi. She added that the further countered her statement about the reservation and claiming that they knew better. Sadavarte said that she had the right to speak in whichever language she wishes, but her right to express herself was being exploited by the party leaders. 

"They told me that 'if you want to live in India, you need to learn Marathi'. It is my right to speak the language I wish to speak," Sadavarte said.

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