Mumbai: Mumbai: From playing cricket and Kho Kho on the roads to sleeping inside ATM centres, stopping vehicles on key roads, accosting foreign tourists and getting them to shout pro-Maratha slogans, the Maratha protesters are behaving as they please as the Mumbai Police looks the other way.
All this because the Maharashtra government's strategy has been to give the Maratha protesters a wide berth even though the strategy is a forced one as the government believes that any police action would have an adverse reaction that could also have a political fallout.
In September 2023, the police in Jalna forcibly tried to remove a hunger strike by Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil which led to a clash with his supporters. The police action led to Patil, who till then was not known much, becoming a household name. So when protestors do an impromptu rasta roko on key roads nowadays in the financial capital of the country, the police simply coax and try to push away the Maratha protests. "Protesters are freely entering whichever building they feel like. Roads are being blocked by protesters. Business is down 90%. Due to the crowds, the police have asked common people not to come to South Mumbai unless necessary, the festival weekend has been ruined as due to the fear, we aren't getting any customers. Why is the government soft on this? asks Viren Shah, President Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association. Shah said that traders have suffered around Rs 75 to Rs 100 crore losses in the last four days.
On Monday, however, the Bombay High Court slammed the protesters and gave the state till 4pm on Tuesday to vacate all Mumbai streets of the Maratha protests. The Maratha protesters are to remain only at the designated spots at Azad Maidan.
All this because the Maharashtra government's strategy has been to give the Maratha protesters a wide berth even though the strategy is a forced one as the government believes that any police action would have an adverse reaction that could also have a political fallout.
In September 2023, the police in Jalna forcibly tried to remove a hunger strike by Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil which led to a clash with his supporters. The police action led to Patil, who till then was not known much, becoming a household name. So when protestors do an impromptu rasta roko on key roads nowadays in the financial capital of the country, the police simply coax and try to push away the Maratha protests. "Protesters are freely entering whichever building they feel like. Roads are being blocked by protesters. Business is down 90%. Due to the crowds, the police have asked common people not to come to South Mumbai unless necessary, the festival weekend has been ruined as due to the fear, we aren't getting any customers. Why is the government soft on this? asks Viren Shah, President Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association. Shah said that traders have suffered around Rs 75 to Rs 100 crore losses in the last four days.
On Monday, however, the Bombay High Court slammed the protesters and gave the state till 4pm on Tuesday to vacate all Mumbai streets of the Maratha protests. The Maratha protesters are to remain only at the designated spots at Azad Maidan.
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