Stand-Up Comic Agrima Joshua Apologises To Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s Followers After Shiv Sena MLA Demands Her Arrest

Stand-up comedian Agrima Joshua on Friday (10 July) posted an apology to “followers of the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj” over one of her acts.

This came after a controversy erupted on social media and a Shiv Sena MLA even demanded her arrest.

An old video of Joshua recently went viral on the internet, where she is seen cracking a joke on Shivaji’s upcoming statue in the Arabian Sea.

Joshua is seen saying,

“I am already psyched about the next big thing they are going to do in Maharashtra, in Mumbai. Anybody heard of this amazing thing they are going to do in Mumbai...the Shivaji statue? I am psyched about it. I want to know more about it, I want to read about it. So I went to the most authentic source of news on the internet – Quora. Wahan par kisi ne nibandh likh rakha hai…This Shivaji statue is amazing master stroke by our prime minister Modi ji, it will have solar cells which will power all of Maharashtra…Doosra banda aya, usne socha ye creative contest hai, to usne socha yes, it will also have GPS tracker and it will shoot laser rays out of its eyes to kill Pakistani terrorists in Arabian Sea. Teesra banda aaya, guys please get your facts right. It’s not Shivaji, it’s Shivaji Maharaj…”

Several Twitter users took umbrage to it, including Hindu activist Ramesh Solanki. Solanki was a member of Shiv Sena For 21 years before he resigned last year over Congress-NCP alliance.

The outrage prompted Shiv Sena’s Thane MLA Pratap Sarnaik to write a letter to home minister Anil Deshmukh demanding her arrest, reported Mumbai Mirror.

The letter, as per Mirror, said, “Some comedian named Agrima Joshua has made contemptuous comments against Shivaji Maharaj while presenting her comedy. I saw the video and I feel she doesn't have respect for Shivaji Maharaj or she doesn't know about him. I have also written to the Home Minister demanding her arrest."

Sarnaik also tweeted about it:

Joshua eventually apologised. She posted on Twitter that she was sorry for “having hurt the sentiments of the many followers of the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj”, who she sincerely respected.

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

She wrote, “Dear @AUThackeray. If you aren't already aware of this, the @BJP4India IT Cell has unleashed a bunch of trolls at me claiming they're Shiv Sena. Now, I am pretty sure the Shiv Sena, has better things to take care of in Maharashtra right now, than some comic doing her job...”

She further wrote that she could make out from the language that it was BJP people who were heaping filth on her timeline. “One look at my timeline and you'll see these followers flooding my mentions with filth. No follower of a great warrior will ever stoop to this filth. I know it's you, @BJP4India. It's really obvious. Your bhakhts have a very distinct vocabulary for women. I know who you are :)”, she wrote.

Following the demand for her arrest by Thackeray’s own party member, however, she seems to have decided to end the matter with an apology.

Update: It has come to light on 9 July, an activist belonging to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) named Yash Ranade, went to the studio where Joshua works, and vandalised it. He posted a live video of his act on Facebook.

Ranade left only after taking a written apology from Joshua which, again, he posted on Facebook.