The New Year brought along with itself an environment of tension and clashes in Maharashtra. After the locals in Pune and Dalits chose to celebrate the Koregaon Bhima battle which was fought 200 years ago, it resulted in a clash between a group of Dalits and the supporters of Right Wing Hindu organizations. The violence killed a 28-year old man and four others were injured.
Later, the tension somehow spread in parts of Mumbai and today, a group of protestors declared Maharashtra Bandh apparently because of the government’s failure to stop the violence. Currently, certain parts of the state in Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur are facing an environment of tension and the routine life has been affected to some extent.
The Maharashtra Bandh called by Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader and Dr. BR Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar has been called off a while ago.
How the Violence Broke out
Every year, thousands of people gather at Bhima Koregaon to commemorate the 200-year-old battle fought between British and Peshwa Army. It’s said that British Army won the battle with the help of Mahars who were considered to be untouchables.
This year, the celebrations were opposed for being anti-national by several groups like Akhil Bharti Brahmin Mahasangh. Apparently, there was a clash between two unidentified groups over an unidentified reason in Vadu, 40 kms away from Pune. These clashes gradually spread to the rest of the state and now protesters are demanding for a shutdown because the government couldn’t handle the violent incidents.
Routine life affected
Meanwhile, the state government didn’t declare any holiday or shutdown. However, various groups of protesters began blocking the rail traffic mainly on Thane railway station and the Western line in suburban Goregaon. However, the mob was controlled later by the police force.
The government also didn’t declare any holiday for schools but the school buses operators refused to run the buses on Wednesday morning as they didn’t want to put the students’ security at risk.
Also, the Class 11 examinations in Mumbai’s St Xavier’s College were canceled. Certain schools were shut down by the second half of the day and Dabbawallas also canceled their services for the day.
People helped out each other
Although the mob of protestors kept creating disturbance throughout the state by blocking the traffic and even forced shopkeepers to shut down their shops, many parts remained unaffected. In fact, in order to help each other out, many sensible people tweeted the affected locations on social media and warned each other to avoid those parts of the city.
Here are some tweets related to Maharashtra Bandh:
Mumbai has rejected the #MaharashtraBandh. The city is functioning absolutely normally.
— Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi) January 3, 2018
Section 144 imposed in #Thane till midnight Jan 4. Also in parts of #Aurangabad #Pune #Dalit protesters tried to stop train at Thane station, cleared by Police. Public transport (Bus & Auto) severely affected. Schools shut in Thane.#BhimaKoregaonViolence#MaharashtraBandh pic.twitter.com/1PN1Gd59zA
— Jagrati Shukla (@JagratiShukla29) January 3, 2018
A view from my balcony this morning..Roads blocked and traffic stopped by protesters..Be Safe Everyone..#MaharashtraBandh pic.twitter.com/BB4xgw0XEF
— Gautam Rode (@gautam_rode) January 3, 2018
Entire World Has Entered 2018..We Have Gone Back To 1818
#MaharashtraBandh— aafreenk (@aafreenk) January 3, 2018
