Raj Thackeray’s ultimatum to Railways: Clear foot overbridges of illegal hawkers in 15 days

MNS chief Raj Thackeray at the rally in Churchgate on Thursday. (Ganesh Shirsekar)

In a major show of strength, a large number of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers from across the state thronged the Western Railway headquarters at Churchgate on Thursday afternoon for a protest rally against the Elphinstone Road station stampede that killed 23 people last week. MNS chief Raj Thackeray issued an “ultimatum” to the railway authorities, asking them to clear railway foot overbridges (FOBs) of illegal hawkers within a fortnight.

“I have asked the officials from the Central Railway and the Western Railway to clear FOBs by removing the hawkers from all the stations in the next 15 days. If you fail to remove it, my party workers will come on the streets to remove it. Then, we will not be responsible for it,” said Thackeray while addressing the party workers at Churchgate.

Since Thursday’s rally did not have the requisite permission from the Mumbai Police, he addressed the rally from a stage built on two trucks. The rally was a significant one for Thackeray who is trying to revive the party after the humiliating defeat in Mumbai civic body polls earlier this year. The last protest was led by Thackeray on August 21, 2012 after Azad Maidan riots.

While the protest was organised from Metro Cinema to Western Railway headquarters at Churchgate, people started gathering since morning. However, the crowd started increasing after 11.30 am at the Metro Cinema. Besides Mumbai, workers from Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan Dombivli, Vasai Virar, Palghar, Pune, Nashik, Solapur, Beed, Osmanabad and other parts of the state also attended the protest.

Thackeray had given a call for an “anger march” against the Elphinstone Road stampede on September 29, with a demand of upgrading the existing railway infrastructure for the suburban railways, threatening that he would not allow a single brick to be placed for the bullet train. Thackeray criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government over several issues, including the farm loan wavier, note ban, Make in India and the new tax regime under the GST. “I have never seen a Prime Minister who lies so much. The PM has betrayed people who trusted him with a hope of bringing change,” said Raj.

“The BJP knew all these issues but didn’t do anything about it. Instead, it focused on note ban, Make in India and yoga. Though the government has changed, the issues are still the same. Those who opposed the government have been removed. Suresh Prabhu has been removed as a railway minister after he opposed the Bullet Train project, which has been proposed for a handful of Gujarati people from Mumbai and Gujarat,” he alleged.

The MNS chief further appealed to the Supreme Court and High Court judges, the Election Commission of India to not trust the government and take the right decisions. “I saw the Gujarat development model after a request from Ratan Tata. Now, it turns out that the picture shown was not true,” said Thackeray.

MNS leaders said the activists from across the state arrived in Mumbai for a show of the party’s strength. “We were unsure of the total turnout at the rally, but it was good,” said a leader. “At least 32 vehicles with approximately 600 persons had come for the rally. It was our spontaneous decision to go for the rally to show our presence,” said Dilip Dhotre, MNS district president of Solapur. Another leader said the people from Beed, Osmanabad, Aurangabad and other districts had come to the rally. The people reached a little late for the rally as the Mumbai-Pune Expressway was jammed, said the leader. “The protest was much required as the issues of the Mumbai railways infrastructure have been ignored for a long time,” said Mahesh Gurav, a resident of Virar, who was present at the rally.

Bhagwan Deshmukh, president of Thane Railway Pravashi Sangh, said things will not change much. “Only the hawkers will be removed in the next 15 days, but they will be back after sometime. The railway authorities are well aware of the suburban railways’ inadequate infrastructure but are least bothered. Whenever any suggestion is made, they will comment saying that it is not feasible. They do not even give proper thought behind it. Only strong political will can fix the issues,” said Deshmukh.

The organisers claimed that over 50,000 protesters gathered for the rally. Though there was increased police bandobast, the protest took place without the police permission. However, the police have registered a case against the MNS for unlawful assembly under section of 37 (1) (e) and 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act.