Mumbai on edge as caste clashes break out
MUMBAI/PUNE/NAGPUR: Violentprotests erupted in Mumbai, Pune, and other cities across Maharashtra on Tuesday, with protesters damaging buses, blocking roads and railway lines and forcing shops to shut, a day after unrest in Pu ne district during celebrations to mark the bicentenary of a British-Peshwa war.
In suburban Mumbai, protests erupted in Ghatko par, Chem bur, Powai, Mulund and Thane, as activists from different fact ions of the Republican Party of India (RPI) took to the streets. The police detained about 100 people across the city.
CM Devendra Fadnavis has announced a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the high court into the unrest in Pune. He also said the CID would investigate the death of Rahul Phatangale, 28, who died after being struck in the head by stones on Monday.
The incident has taken a political turn with Dalit leader Pr aka sh Am bed k ar announcing a Maharashtra bandh on Wednesday.
Various Left parties as well as Maratha community outfit Sambhaji Brigade have supported his bandh call, he said.
Through Tuesday, protesters damaged at least 20 government buses in Mumbai and halted services on the city’ s harbour line for about 25 minutes.
In Thane, hundreds of protesters sat on the roads, forced shops to down shutters and smashed seven state-owned buses. The arterial Eastern Express Highway and other roads saw massive traffic jams due to protests. Reports of violence and stonepelting also came from Pune, So lap ur, Nagpur and parts of the Vidarbha region, the police said.
Though Maharashtra’ s education minister Vinod Tawde has confirmed that schools and colleges will function normally on Wednesday, school bus services could be hit as the School Bus Owners’ Association( S BOA) has decided to stay off the roads.
Hundreds of thousands of people gather at Bhima Koregaon every year to mark the anniversary of an 1818 war between the British and the Peshwa. Many Dal it leaders believe the war was won by the British with the help of Dalit soldiers in the regiment, who defeated a large army of the Peshwa, who was alleged to have instituted oppressive caste practices.
The celebrations gathered momentum in 1927 after BR Ambedkar visited the spot and called the B him a Kore ga on battle a war against caste. Historians are divided on the subject. But this year, the celebrations have been controversial, with several right-wing groups, such as the Ak hi lBh ar a ti ya Br ah min Ma hasangh calling the event anti- national. F ad na vis has now said the CID will treat the killing of Phatangale as a murder, and has promised financial aid of Rs 10 lakh to his family, in addition to compensation to those whose vehicles were damaged in the incident.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar, blamed the government for not preventing Monday’s violence near Bhima Koregaon. “People from the village told me that some outsiders who belonged to rightwing organisations incited violence. Thousands of people gather at the spot every year, but there is no history of violence at this commemoration ,” he added.
A central pillar of the RSS/BJP’s fascist vision for India is that Dalits should remain at the bottom of Indian society...
There was stonepelting, violence... but police exercised restraint
Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister
MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday announced a judicial probe into the Bhima-Koregaon violence by a sitting high court judge and a CID inquiry into the death of a Dalit youth who was killed in the clashes.
The decision was announced after a state Cabinet meeting on Tuesday even as opposition parties tried to corner the government over its ‘inept’ handling of the situation. The chief minister also announced compensation of ₹10 lakh to the family of Rahul Phatangale, the 28-year-old resident of Sanaswadi, Pune, who died on Monday.
“The government will investigate if there were deliberate attempts by some forces to trigger violence. The CID will probe the killing of the youth, treating it as murder. Besides, a financial aid of ₹10 lakh to the family of the youth and compensation for damages to vehicles of people who had gone to commemorate the bicentenary celebration will be given,” Fadnavis said,
Union home minister Raj na th Singh also spoke Fadnavis and enquired about the prevailing law and order situation in different parts of the state.
Around three lakh people had gathered at Bhima Koregaon, located around 40km from Pune city, far higher than the number of visitors seen every year.
“We had deployed six police companies to control the situation. Some vehicles were torched and stone were pelted, but we succeeded in preventing the violence from turning into a riotlike situation,” Fadnavis said.
The CM also warned that strict action would be taken against those who spread rumours. He has appealed to political outfits and leaders to restrain themselves from issuing statements and disrupting “social harmony”.
OPPN CORNERS GOVT
The Opposition, however, slammed the government for inept handling of the situation. “People from the village told me that some outsiders who belonged to right-wing organisations incited violence. Thousands of people gather at the spot every year, but there is no history of violence at this commemoration. Anticipating a large gathering on the occasion of the bicentenary, the government authorities should have taken due precautions ,” NC Pp resident Sharad Pawar said.
He also urged his political peers from other parties to restrain from fuelling violence.
In a tweet, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, “A central pillar of the RSS/BJP’s fascist vision for India is that Dalits should remain at the bottom of Indian society. Una, Rohit Vemula and now Bhima-Kore-
gaon are potent symbols of the resistance.”
State Congress chief Ashok Chavan, too, appealed to people to maintain peace and not believe rumours.
MAGNITUDE OF STIR CAUGHT US OFFGUARD, SAY MUMBAI COPS
-MUMBAI: The Director General of Police’s (DGP) office had on Monday night sounded an alert about possible agitations by Dalit groups but the city police was caught off guard by the magnitude of the protests, senior Mumbai police officials said.
“We had some idea about possible protests, but we never expected the outpouring that followed in the city,” said Sachin Patil, deputy commissioner of police (operations), and the nodal officer for the deployment of police personnel.