Sena MLA demands arrest of comedian for hurting sentiments of Shivaji Maharaj's followers

On Friday, an old video of stand-up comedian Agrima Joshua's act surfaced on social media, in which she had cracked jokes on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's upcoming statue in the Arabian Sea. The video went viral but there has been widespread outrage against her from followers of the reverent Maratha King who have been slamming her by demanding strict legal action against her. 

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik took to Twitter on Friday and demanded the arrest of the stand-up comedian for her comments against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Sarnaik said that he has written a letter to the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and has demanded strict legal action against Agrima Joshua for hurting sentiments of the people.

He also posted a video and said, "I saw the video and I feel she doesn't have respect for Shivaji Maharaj or she doesn't know about him. He also warned that if she was using Shivaji Maharaj's name to earn money, the Maharashtra Yuvati Sena/Mahila Aghadi will not tolerate it. "If you need, you can take information about Maharaj from Shiv Bhakts. The Hindutvavadi Janata will not tolerate it," he said.

Have a look:

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Several people also took to social media to share the video saying it has hurt feelings of crores of followers of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and demanded action against the comedian.

Meanwhile, Joshua on Friday evening apologized for hurting the sentiments of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's followers and said that video was taken down. "I am sorry for having hurt the sentiments of the many followers of the great leader Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. My heartfelt apologies to followers of the great leader, who I sincerely respect. The video has already been taken down. Please amplify," she tweeted.

Before the apology, Joshua had tagged Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray's son and state tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray, complaining that she was being 'hounded' by BJP IT cell.

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The stand-up act

In the one minute seven seconds video that went viral, Joshua is seen cracking jokes on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's upcoming statue in the Arabian Sea. She goes on to tell "funny things" that she read on Quora.

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