After a day of disruptions, Mumbai bandh called off
MARATHA STIR Protesters in Navi Mumbai, Thane refuse to back down from their demands MUMBAI:
Leaders of the Maratha quota agitation called off their shutdown of Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon and asked protesters in other parts of the state to follow suit. But agitators in Thane and Navi Mumbai continued the agitation.
The move to call off the stir was taken after several violent incidents erupted in Mumbai as well as surrounding areas, including the burning of a bus and an agitation against mediapersons in Kalamboli that forced the police to fire in the air and launch a lathi-charge. Roughly 4-5 people were reported injured in the ensuing mob violence.
Maratha leaders in Navi Mumbai and Thane also expressed a willingness to withdraw the agitation but were met with resistance from protesters on the ground. Discussions were ongoing at the time of going to press.
Protesters at Navi Mumbai’s Kalamboli, which is the start point of the Mumbai-Pune experessway from the Mumbai side, said they will not withdraw the agitation till chief minister Devendra Fadnavis or another government representative meets them and accepts their demands.
The Sion-Panvel highway also remained blocked as agitators continued to pour out on the road in large numbers.
The bandh started off on a peaceful note, but grew in intensity as the day wore on. A few instances of buses and trains being halted in Thane; rail blockades in Jogeshwari and Kalyan; stoppage of traffic at the Mulund Check Naka; and stone pelting at Ghansoli were reported earlier in the day. Reports also emerged of Maratha activists forcing commercial establishments to down shutters in Lalbaug.
Protestors disrupted railway services on the central and western lines for a while, before police stepped in. Although 30 protesters blocked rail tracks at Jogeshwari station on the western line around 9.15 am, services resumed after the lines were cleared at 9.24 am.
A group of about 60 protesters waylaid trains at the Thane railway station from 10.12 am to 10.30 am. A similar agitation was taken up by 25 Maratha activists at the Ghansoli railway station, which resulted in the halting of trans-harbour local train services.
Maratha Kranti Morcha coordination committee member Virendra Pawar said the agitation had turned out to be a grand success.
“We showed everyone that caste-based outfits can bring the city to a halt just as well as political parties,” he asserted.
He, however, denied that any member of his group had indulged in violence.
“We suspect some political conspiracy to tarnish our image. We peacefully held 58 silent morchas without causing any violence,” Pawar said, adding that they will probe the issue.
The Maratha leader held the state government responsible for the bandh.
“We sought our due from the government for two whole years, but received nothing. This is what pushed our youngsters to do this,” he claimed.
Many auto rickshaws kept off the streets in view of the bandh.
“It couldn’t be helped. Drivers feared that their vehicles would be vandalised,” said Shashank Rao, leader of the Mumbai Autorickshaw Men’s Union. There were reports of agitators warning auto rickshaw drivers against venturing out in Lokhandwala and Kandivli areas. This led to a surge in the prices of app-based Uber and Ola cab agencies.
Protesters also staged a ‘rastaroko’ at Panvel, blocking the Old Mumbai-Pune road and the Mumbai-Goa road in the process. Around four incidents of buses being pelted with stones (in Ghansoli and Kopar Khairane) and six of BEST bus tyres (in Kurla, Chandivali, Andheri and Kandivali) being deflated were reported through the course of the morning. However, BEST spokesperson Hanumant Gophane said the bus services were otherwise unaffected.
The agitation was more severe in Navi Mumbai than Mumbai or Thane, considering that the community has dominant pockets in the satellite city. Railway authorities had already beefed up security at various stations across the city, knowing that protesters would try to block the tracks. Over 30,000 police personnel were deployed across the region to ensure that the common man was not affected.
However, organisers of the agitation assured that it would not go out of hand. “The bandh will be observed peacefully. We do not intend to cause any inconvenience to the people. The protests and road-blockades will only be representational, meant to attract attention to our demands,” said Bipin Vichare, who led the bandh in Bhandup.
The decision to call the bandh was taken at a meeting of Maratha organisations at Shivaji Mandir in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon.
SENA MLA QUITS
Meanwhile, a Shiv Sena MLA from Aurangabad district offered to resign in support of the quota demand. Harshavardhan Jadhav, who represents the Kannad assembly constituency, had recently announced that he would step down if the demands are not met. In his letter addressed to legislative assembly speaker Haribhau Bagde, Jadhav stated that he was tendering his resignation on Wednesday.