A day after political participants of the Mumbai Bagh protest declared that they would be withdrawing support to it by Thursday evening, attempts to discourage the core protestors from staying on began on Wednesday.
Called Mumbai Bagh because it is being held on the lines of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protests, the protest began on the night of February 26 outside the Arabia Hotel on Morland Road in Mumbai Central. Late on Monday night, a delegation of political leaders involved with the protest met State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, after which it was decided to call it off on Thursday. The protestors, however, are adamant on continuing it and Thursday is expected to be a day of reckoning for Mumbai Bagh.
Several of the women protesters who have been involved since day one told The Hindu on Wednesday the supply of drinking water, which was being offered by scores of volunteers all through the day, has gone down to a trickle.
“It is not like we were dependant on what they had to offer but the stark difference just a day after the development is hard to ignore. It’s the same case with food. Hundreds of parcels of packed food were being passed around for the past 10 ten days but today, that quantity has dropped significantly,” one of the protesters said.
Another protester said a group of women claiming to be from a religious organisation were seen going around telling women that free sewing machines were being offered to those who withdrew from the protest.
“They came at around 3 a.m., when the number of protesters is at its lowest, but left quickly when we started asking too many questions,” the protester said.
On Wednesday, film director Anurag Kashyap visited the protest site and addressed the protesters. “The battle is a long one and we are facing a bunch of stubborn people. All we have to do is to see the battle to its end in a peaceful manner rather than causing any damage,” Mr. Kashyap said.
Women continue to constitute the majority of the protesters, carrying it forward on a relay basis. School and college students are seen visiting through the day, with many youngsters sketching placards and little children milling around. Sloganeering stops at night so that residents are not disturbed and resumes in the morning.Residents, too, have agreed to adjust with the protesters and activists have been regularly mediating between the protesters, residents and local police.