‘If someone is against this…’: Sanjay Raut questions people opposing Maharashtra bandh

A day-long statewide bandh in Maharashtra is currently underway. The bandh was called to protest against the killing of farmers in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday questioned people opposing the ongoing Maharashtra bandh, as the state observed the day-long strike, being held against the killing of farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district on October 3. “If someone is opposing this protest, they must ask themselves if they are citizens of this country,” Raut said of the bandh, the call for which was given by the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which comprises the Sena, NCP and Congress.

Sanjay Raut (File Photo)

Follow all live updates of Maharashtra bandh here

“Our call was 100 per cent successful. People have shown their anger against the incident of mowing down of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri,” the Rajya Sabha MP further said.

Though Raut did not name anyone, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sena's former ally and Maharashtra's largest opposition party, has opposed the bandh. “The Sena has always opposed development. They indirectly supported the mill workers' strike in the 1980s, opposed key development projects including airports in Navi Mumbai, Sindhudurg, coastal road and are now observing bandh when people ae distressed because of the Covid-19 lockdown,” BJP MLA Ashish Shelar said.

Shiv Sena workers took to the streets, blocking the Pune-Bengaluru national highway in Kolhapur, and were detained by the police. Similar protest took place at Chembur in Mumbai, where workers of the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit blocked the Ghatkopar-Mahul road, resulting in them being detained as well.

Overall, though, the bandh seems to have evoked a mixed response; shops and establishments in many districts remained closed, while local bus services operated by local bodies, too, were unavailable. However, local train services in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) were functioning normally.

Four farmers were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri, when an SUV rammed into a group of farmers who were on their way back after protesting against UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya. Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, is accused of being behind the wheels of the jeep that ran over the farmers.

Two workers of the state's ruling BJP, and minister Mishra's driver, were killed in the ensuing violence. A local journalist, Raman Kashyap, also lost his life.