Maharashtra bandh has mixed response, incidence of violence

The Maharashtra bandh called by the ruling Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising, Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), received fairly good response, though it is marred by some incidents of violence in some parts of the state.

The bandh has been called to protest against the death of eight farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, who were mowed by cars allegedly driven by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and activists. While many joined the bandh, a few traders in some areas refused to down the shutters of their establishments.

Shiv Sena leaders and activists forced some shops and hotels to close. This happened especially in Thane town. Shiv Sainiks slapped a few autorickshaw drivers, who were plying their three-wheelers. Thane Mayor was part of the team that slapped the autorickshaw drivers.

In Mumbai, at least eight buses of the local public transport service, BEST, were damaged, when miscreants pelted it with stones.

There were skirmishes between activists of BJP and MVA in Bhusaval District when the BJP activists, asked the shopkeepers to oppose the bandh, even as the MVA activists were appealing to them to shut shop. According to observers, the MVA activists were making a peaceful appeal to the shop owners to keep their establishments open. This resulted in skirmished between the two political sides, leading injuries to activists on both sides. The two political groups blamed each other for the violence. The injured have been admitted to a local hospital. ​​​​​​​