Maratha outfits call for bandh in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai tomorrow

Maratha outfits in the state have called for a bandh (shutdown) in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, and several other areas of the state on Wednesday.

The decision 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 will be observed in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Palghar, Raigad and Satara.

NCP MLA Narendra Patil, who has been part of protest marches in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, said 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.” 

Following death of youth activist Kakasaheb Shinde, who drowned after jumping in the Godavari river in Aurangabad during protests for reservation on Monday, Maratha outfits called for a state-wide bandh on Tuesday. While it was a success in Marathwada (central Maharashtra), it was not observed in many parts of the state, including the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), so a bandh has been called again on Wednesday.

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.