The Maha Vikas Aghadi or MVA government has declared a bandh throughout Maharashtra today in solidarity with farmers in Uttar Pradesh, a week after eight people were killed in violence in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri during a farmers’ protest.
- The bandh is supported by Maharashtra’s Vikas Aghadi government, which includes the Shiv Sena, Congress, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). At a joint news conference of the three parties, the state government itself announced the bandh.
- “I request 12 crore people of Maharashtra to support the farmers. Support means all of you join the bandh and stop your work for a day,” Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik told reporters.
- Everything will be closed, except for necessary services, according to the state government. The Agricultural Produce Market Committee, popularly known as the subzi mandi, will be closed.
- Sanjay Raut, the leader of the Shiv Sena, has stated that his party will participate in the bandh “in full force.” “All the three parties will actively participate in the bandh. What happened in Lakhimpur Kheri was a constitutional assassination, a legal violation, and a plot to assassinate the country’s farmers “Mr. Raut stated to the press.
- The Mumbai Police Department has devised a strategy to guarantee that people are not inconvenienced as a result of the bandh. Police officers will be stationed in crucial locations. The Mumbai Police would be assisted in maintaining peace and order by three companies of the Central Reserve Police Force, 500 Home Guards, and 700 other personnel.
- A Maharashtra trade union that had previously objected to the state government’s decision to call a bandh on Monday has decided to support it. “We have chosen to keep stores closed until 4 p.m. in support of the bandh called by the Maha Vikas Aghadi administration in protest against farmer killings,” Viren Shah, president of the Federation of Retail Traders’ Welfare Association (FRTWA), said in an amended statement on Sunday.
- The traders’ union had previously stated that they are only crawling back to work following periodic lockdowns due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and that the bandh will have a negative impact on their revenues. “Due to lockdown, we’ve lost a lot of money over the last 18 months. Our business is gradually improving. Let us do our business peacefully in the middle of the festival season, when people have begun to come out to shop. We are pleading with the government to keep retail enterprises open. We hope that business owners are not hounded or compelled to close their doors “Mr. Shah has stated previously.
- The traders, on the other hand, look to be caught in a political crossfire, as the BJP has stated that “forced store closures” in support of the bandh will not be tolerated. “If any of the MVA karyakartas compel shopkeepers to close their doors tomorrow, they will confront BJP karyakartas. Police should guarantee that no one is pushed, or else a law and order crisis would arise, which is not our responsibility “Nitesh Rane, a Maharashtra BJP politician, took to Twitter.
- Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, was mentioned in a police report submitted by farmers who claimed he drove into a crowd of slogan-shouting demonstrators during a peaceful black-flag rally last Sunday.
- On Saturday night, Ashish Mishra appeared in court, days after enormous pressure mounted on police inactivity despite the filing of a murder charge. The UP Police had also been chastised by the Supreme Court for not doing their duties adequately.
(With inputs from NDTV News – Latest.)
The Chenab Times News Desk