The National Democratic Alliance sponsored bandh on Monday hit normal life in Mumbai, affecting road and air transport, while streets wore a deserted look as not a shop in sight was open. The suburban local trains ran as per schedule.
Some cars and buses were damaged, but no violence was reported in the city which had its full force of nearly 48,000 police on the streets.
While the Shiv Sena and the BJP claimed a 100 per cent success, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said the bandh did not get the expected response from people. BJP MP Gopinath Munde and supporters, Manohar Joshi and members of the Shiv Sena, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) apart from the Samajwadi Party were detained in various parts of the city while protesting or trying to disrupt rail or road traffic.
In the city, most people had gone out of town on an extended weekend break or chose to stay indoors rather than risk travelling. Taxis and autorickshaws were off the road and people coming from long distances were stranded at the train termini or at the airport. Though local trains were running, few people travelled. The city was deserted for the most part with children playing cricket on empty roads. Six private vehicles and 58 buses were damaged in Mumbai.
Rajnish Seth, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Mumbai, told The Hindu that a total of 51 offences were registered, 192 people arrested and 1,268 detained, including 11 MLAs and three MPs. The police also made 3,500 preventive arrests and detained 2,600 more under the preventive Section 149 of the Criminal Procedure Code. “We picked up people mostly from outside the railway stations. In Andheri, Borivali and Mulund the numbers were large. There was no lathi charge anywhere in Mumbai,” he said.
From other parties, Nitin Sardesai of the MNS and Eknath Shinde of the Sena were arrested. There were two incidents of burning of placards along the western line and trains were stopped in Thane and Mankhurd. Windows of some State Transport buses were broken in Mahad and Thane. Early morning, the Sinhagad and the Indrayani Express were stopped.
Flight operations were also affected due to “low passenger loads,” a spokesperson from Mumbai International Airport Limited said. Forty-six arrivals and 47 departures were cancelled. Prepaid taxis also suspended operations and Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport buses were arranged from international terminals to ferry passengers to various destinations.
Mr. Chavan told journalists that the Opposition did not get the expected response for the bandh and the local trains and even BEST buses were operated. Giving out figures, he said that in Mumbai 45 per cent of the BEST buses were working and in the state 61 per cent of the state transport fleet was on the road. Mr. Chavan said cameras were positioned in sensitive spots and the footage would help in identifying the culprits and the parties behind the disruptions. Destruction of public property would not be tolerated. He said while initially the government planned to go to court against the bandh, after seeking legal advice, it was clear that there was already an order in place on the illegality of bandhs and the government had to ensure that those orders were implemented.
In the State secretariat attendance was between 35 and 45 per cent. Mr. Chavan said every time the prices of petrol were raised, there was a bandh, even the Congress had to resort to this in the time of the NDA rule. “We are still with the aam admi,” declared Mr. Chavan when asked to comment on the Opposition's statement that the SCongress was throttling the common man person with his inflationary policies.
Preventive arrests
The government was taking no chances with the bandh and had made 3,000 preventive arrests in the rest of Maharashtra. About 22 MLAs and one MP were detained in the rest of the State, Mr. Chavan said.
The bandh did not affect rural areas, he said. About 4,268 arrests or detentions were made in the rest of the State. In Nashik, Shiv Sena workers splashed cow dung on a poster of Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi.
However, when it came to the question of compensating for damage to property, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Maharashtra BJP president washed his hands off the concern saying, “Compensation on the basis of what? If you are asking for compensation, it should start from Sangli. The BJP has not pelted stones on any buses. Let the law take its course.”
Mr. Mungantiwar, who was arrested during the bandh, was speaking at a press conference here on Monday. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has been accused of orchestrating the riots in Sangli before the State Assembly elections last year. Terming the bandh a 100 per cent success, he said, the people have expressed their dissatisfaction towards the government. He said his party would intensify its agitation against fuel price hike and would once again raise the issue in the Assembly.
Thanking the people for their support, he said, “From Kolhapur [in western Maharashtra] to Sironcha [in eastern Maharashtra], the bandh saw an unprecedented success. I wish to thank the absentee State Secretariat employees for defying Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. Our workers braved lathis, in Kolhapur the Dy.SP trained a pistol at them, bringing back memories of the British rule, in Nagpur our worker Sanjay Bhende was beaten mercilessly, in Akola there was a lathicharge and in Dadar in Mumbai a petrol bottle was hurled at our party office in a bid to set it on fire. The government tried everything to suppress the voice of the people.”
Mr. Mungantiwar said that instead of trying to quell the bandh the State should have tried to reign in inflation.
