Shops shut as bandh called by Maratha outfits begins in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai

Essential services have been exempted from the bandh, Maratha Kranti Morcha has said.

A shutdown called by Maratha outfits demanding reservation began in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, and several other areas of Maharashtra on Wednesday.

A board outside a union office in Navi Mumbai, July 25, 2018. (Bachchan Kumar/ HT Photo)

Shops were closed in Navi Mumbai and auto-rickshaws were off the roads, a day after large-scale violence marred a statewide protest by Maratha outfits demanding quota in jobs and education. Schools and colleges, however, were exempt from the shutdown.

The decision to call a bandh (shutdown) was taken at a meeting of Maratha organisations at Shivaji Mandir in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon. The Maratha Kranti Morcha, an umbrella body of various community groups, announced the bandh.

The Marathas have been agitating for reservation for the community in government jobs and education for a while now.

The organisation has appealed to community members to observe the bandh peacefully. Essential services have been exempted from the bandh, it added.

The shutdown is expected to be observed in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Palghar, Raigad and Satara.

Members of Maratha Kranti Morcha at Thane, Maharashtra, July 25, 2018.

NCP MLA Narendra Patil, who has been part of protest marches in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, said on Tuesday the bandh will be observed in all three cities on Wednesday. “We had a meeting of various organisations in Navi Mumbai in Tuesday and decided to observe the bandh in the three districts tomorrow,” he said. “The decision to call for Maharashtra bandh was taken very late on Monday in Aurangabad, and gave us very little time to prepare. By observing the bandh, we are extending our support to protests being staged at various places.” 

At the meeting, representatives of the various Maratha outfits passed a resolution condemning chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for the government’s delay on the issue of reservation.

The last bandh that Mumbai experienced was the one called by Dalit groups in January this year, which saw several incidents of violence and brought Mumbai to a grinding halt.