Coalition partners of the state’s ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government along with several other political parties took to the streets in Pune and raised slogans against it. BJPThe central government on Monday called for a bandh during a day-long bandh to condemn the killing of farmers in Uttar Pradesh. Lakhimpur Kheri, allegedly by a vehicle owned by the son of a Union minister.
Pune city police joint commissioner Ravindra Shisave said the law and order situation in the city was peaceful, despite protests taking place at some places. He said a police force of about 5,000 personnel has been deployed at important places to ensure the peaceful bandh. There were massive protests in the jurisdiction of Bundgarden, Hadapsar, Shivajinagar, Vishrambagh and Sinhagad Road police stations.
Officials said the bandh got a mixed response, though shops in Market Yard and Laxmi Road remained closed in the morning, but most of the shops resumed after 4 pm.
Workers of MVA parties – Congress, The Shiv Sena And this Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – submitted a memorandum of demands to the Pune District Collector.
NCP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad unit president Sanjog Waghre said, “People voluntarily kept their shops and offices closed till late afternoon. PMPML buses also did not ply on the roads. Even many small scale industries remained closed.”
Other parties that took part in the protest included Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), CPM and Janata Dal (Secular) as well as social organizations like Shetkari Bachao Kriti Samiti, Hamal Panchayat, Rickshaw Panchayat, Tempo Panchayat and Chhatrapati Shivaji Market Yard Kamgar Union. In a rally organized near the collector’s office, he paid tribute to the people killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and recited jointly. Preface Indian Constitution K.
Addressing the gathering, state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Vishwajit Kadam said that everyone should stand with the farmers of the country as the BJP-led government is “mistreating” them.
“The BJP-led central government through its dictatorship has enacted anti-farmer laws. Farmers have been opposing it but the Prime Minister of the country does not care for them. However, party workers of BJP and supporters of a Union minister’s son ran over the protesting farmers,” Kadam said.
The voice of the farmers is being suppressed, he said, adding that the citizens of the country cannot remain silent when injustice is being done to the farmers. “The MVA government had given loan waiver to the farmers in the state but the BJP government is trying to destroy the farmers. We need to stand for farmers as central government is working only for select industrialists. We should work towards toppling the BJP government by coming together and fighting against it.
City NCP chief Prashant Jagtap said that BJP has come to power in the country by making false promises. “They have an agenda to make select industrialists rich and make the poor suffer. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided not to listen to the farmers and take decisions against them,” he said.
City Congress President Ramesh Bagwe said that his party members are protesting in a democratic way to save the farmers. We will continue to fight for the farmers till justice is done, he said.
City Shiv Sena chief Sanjay More said the bandh has received a good response from all sections of the society in the city.
Congress leader Mohan Joshi said the PMPML bus service was closed, while hotels, restaurants and shops also participated in the bandh, marking this successful attempt to condemn the violence against farmers.
Meanwhile, the city Bharatiya Janata Party The (BJP) unit condemned the protest, alleging in a press note that the “concerns of farmers” of opposition parties are “fake”.
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