MNS terror as cops act coy

The indefinite strike of Uber and Ola hit night birds from Sunday midnight itself. MNS supporters were out on the streets enforcing the diktat. Working in a newspaper means that one leaves for home not before midnight. I had a run-in with the MNS activists just past midnight, at Gandhinagar junction of Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg near the Kanjurmarg flyover. My Uber driver in a Wagon R (MH46AD4753) was intercepted by three heavyhitters with sticks. The trio threatened to break the windscreen of the taxi and demanded that the driver leave his car and go home. They continued to intimidate him and wanted to know why he was plying despite the strike call. The trio paid no heed to the driver’s pleas and his claim that he wasn’t aware of the strike. They then shifted their attention to me and opened the door, ordering me to take an autorickshaw. When I objected and tried to reason with them, they got angry. They started goading me to take an auto and even suggested that I need not even pay for the ride. When I insisted that they let the cabbie finish the ride and then he could go home – dropping a hint that I am a journalist - they challenged me to report the matter to the cops, if I was so worked up.I realised the futility of reporting the issue, since this interaction

was taking place near a police chowky with two constables on the spot acting coy. Another MNS supporter tried to shrug off the row by suggesting that it was a matter between them and the driver, and I need not interfere. He also suggested that this strike was for the well-being of the drivers and they need to cooperate with them. I left after the cabbie requested me to do so for he feared they may turn their ire at him and his car. Tragically, the silence of the cops was more disconcerting than the hooliganism of people purportedly fighting for the poor, which saw them denying someone his right to making a living.