The Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad on Monday slammed Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for inviting YouTuber Elvish Yadav at his official residence for Ganesh festival. Awhad said that Yadav's presence at the chief minister's house was "an insult to progressive Maharashtra".
Yadav, known for his controversial remarks on women, was among several celebrities who attended Ganpati pooja at Shinde's official residence on Sunday night. Several videos showing the Bigg Boss OTT 2 winner performing 'aarti' were circulated on social media.
Awhad calls out chief minister
On Monday, Awhad took to X (formerly Twitter) to call out Shinde for inviting Yadav.
"If the chief minister of this state invites an infamous YouTuber and so-called social media influencer like Elvish Yadav to his official residence for Ganesh aarti, it is an insult to the progressive Maharashtra," Awhad said in the post.
"This individual (Yadav) had stooped to a very low level and made numerous statements against women. According to him, women have less intelligence and their role is confined to managing the household and looking after children. He believes they should restrict themselves to these roles. Such remarks are insult towards the substantial contributions made by great figures like the Phule couple, Shahu Maharaj, and Ambedkar saheb for the empowerment of women," the NCP MLA said.
Awhad also attached a viral video of Yadav, in which he notoriously said that women should think less as they have less intelligence.
Meanwhile, the Sunday night's Ganpati pooja was attended by several celebrities from the Hindi entertainment industry. These included Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Jackie Shroff, Arjun Rampal, Asha Bhosle, Boney Kapoor, Rashami Desai and Shehnaaz Gill.
