Lakhimpur Kheri: Maharashtra's ruling alliance calls for bandh on Monday to support farmers

Mumbai: Maharashtra's ruling alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi government comprising the Shiv Sena, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party or NCP announced bandh on Monday at a joint press conference of the three parties to protest the killing of four farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri last week.

A union of traders in Maharashtra has objected to the state government calling a bandh tomorrow saying that they are only limping back to business after intermittent lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the bandh would hit their earnings.

The Federation of Retail Traders' Welfare Association or FRTWA, however, said it does not support the bandh. "We oppose the killing of farmers in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri. Whoever was responsible for the killings should be punished. But FRTWA does not support any bandh called by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government," the traders' group chief Viren Shah said in a video statement.

"We have suffered huge losses for the past 18 months due to lockdown. Our business is slowly picking up. In middle of the festival season when customers have started coming out to shop, let us do our business peacefully. We appeal to the government to allow retail businesses to remain open. We hope that shopkeepers are not harassed or forced to remain shut," Mr Shah said today.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Police will deploy the maximum manpower at their disposal on the streets on Monday to prevent any untoward incident during the bandh.

PTI quoted a police official saying that patrolling will be intensified.

"Three companies of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), 500 Home Guard personnel and 400 men from the Local Arms units are already deployed as additional manpower for the ongoing Navratri festival security. But, keeping the bandh in mind, Mumbai Police will use the maximum manpower to tackle any situation. Police bandobast will be (stepped up) on streets on Monday," the official said.

Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday said his party will participate with full force in the October 11 bandh in Maharashtra. He said it was necessary to wake people up against the "anti-farmer" policies of the Central government.

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 October 3 violence.