BEST buses shut services over stone-pelting incidents and ‘rasta roko’ protests, as the Maha Vikas Aghadi governemen in Maharshtra stated that ‘people have wholeheartedly participated in the bandh,’ adding that ‘minor incidents such as this always happen during protest.’ These incidents included reported beatings of auto-drivers plying in the city.
The bandh was called by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to protest against the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Buses were vandalized between midnight yesterday and this morning across many areas in Mumbai.
The Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis demanded the High Court take cognizance of the events, stating earlier Supreme Court and Bombay High Court had banned such bandhs and fined Shiv Sena.
Most of the shops that remained closed in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra on Monday in the wake of the bandh, are now partially reopening.
The local trains, Mumbai’s lifeline, were operating normally, but running at full capacity as road commuters shifted to the trains, as the governement announced ‘essential services were not to be hit.’
On Saturday night, Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra was arrested by the police in Lakhimpur Kheri in connection with the violence on October 3.