Dalit stir called off but Maharashtra still tense
Issue rocks Parliament as sporadic violence reported through the day
MUMBAI: A bandh called by Dalit groups in Maharashtra on Wednesday brought the country’s financial capital to a halt, with commuters facing a harrowing time, local businesses taking a hit and students forced to stay indoors.
Protesters torched buses, stopped suburban trains, blocked roads and forced shops shut at various places in Mumbai and some other cities.
“Why am I being caught in this political logjam. I am just another Mumbaikar, who wants to get to work. I stand to lose my day’s salary today,’’ said Anita More, who was stuck at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus for four hours.
Except an incident of pellet firing in Aurangabad, the bandh passed off peacefully, minister of state for home Deepak Kesarkar said. A mob pelted stones at a state-run bus in the north Nagpur area. Similar incidents were reported in the neighbouring cities of Chandrapur, Amravati, Buldhana, Khamgaon and Akola.
Daily life also came to a standstill in the suburbs of Thane, Dombivali, Navi Mumbai and cities such as Nagpur, Pune and Aurangabad.
The state-wide bandh, called by Dalit icon BR Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar and supported by 250 groups, was against violence that broke out near Bhima Koregaon, 40km from Pune, during the bicentennial celebrations of a British-era war on January 1 that left a man dead and 40 vehicles damaged.
Ambedkar called off the bandh at around 4.30pm, saying the onus for peace was on chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The violence hit parliamentary proceedings, as the Congress blamed the BJP and RSS for the unrest, which in turn accused the Opposition party of trying to politicise the turmoil.
“We hope that Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote would be arrested soon, we announce to call the bandh off,” Ambedkar said, adding it was Fadnavis’s responsibility to ensure the two were arrested. “If the government fails to act, it will have to bear the consequences,” he said.
On Monday an FIR was registered against Bhide of the Shiv Pratisthan and former BJP corporator and hardline Hindutva activist Milind Ekbote for instigating violence.
In Mumbai and some other cities schools and colleges remained shut while office-goers struggled to get to work as rail services were disrupted. Mumbai Metro service was also hit.
Thirteen buses of the civic transporter BEST were damaged by protesters, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official said. Fearing a similar fate, most autos and taxis, too, stayed off the roads.
Fadnavis said in the evening those involved in Bhima Koregaon violence would face stern action.
“We have requested the Bombay high court to appoint a sitting judge to conduct the inquiry of violence. Nobody will be spared as the police are closely monitoring the CCTV footage of the violence.” He also hinted at outsiders fomenting trouble.
The bandh evoked a mix response in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad .
THE STATEWIDE BANDH, CALLED BY DALIT ICON BR AMBEDKAR’S GRANDSON PRAKASH AMBEDKAR AND SUPPORTED BY 250 GROUPS, WAS AGAINST VIOLENCE THAT BROKE OUT NEAR BHIMA KOREGAON, 40KM FROM PUNE
MUMBAI: For two days, Mumbai was held to ransom by Dalit protestors. Other parts of the state of Maharashtra, including Pune, were affected too, with law enforcement officials and administrators completely under-estimating the number of Dalits who would participate in the protests.
It’s to the credit of the police that they avoided the use of force to prevent an already volatile situation from flaring up.
But what explains the magnitude and intensity of the protests?
The immediate provocation was the attack on the people who participated in the January 1 function at Bhima Koregaon in Pune district to mark 200 years of a battle between the British Army’s Mahar regiment and the Peshwa’s army.
The function was seen as an assertion of Dalit identity by some groups and the attack on it as a challenge to the same.