Female commuters had to be escorted out of the heavily packed CSMT, as protestors yelled, danced and misbehaved at the station and out on the roads
The CRPF and Mumbai Police were called in to corral rowdy protestors who misbehaved with railway commuters and motorists on the road. PICS/NIMESH DAVE and ASHISH RAJE
The city witnessed a second consecutive day of disruption on Friday as the ongoing Maratha Morcha descended into chaos, throwing life in South and Central Mumbai completely off-kilter. Massive crowds thronged the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and adjoining areas, paralysing the city’s transport and road networks for several hours, and leaving lakhs of commuters stranded and frustrated.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Mumbai Police stepped in to escort female commuters out of the station as protestors misbehaved, danced, and yelled on railway premises. “In the last eight to nine years of travel by Central Railway, I have never seen such misbehaviour, requiring female commuters to be escorted out of the station. Such indecent behaviour should not be tolerated. We understand that they are underprivileged and want to protest. But this is not how one should demand for justice — by disrupting someone’s daily life unnecessarily,” said Disha Lalwani, who was traveling from Ghatkopar to CSMT.
The second day of protests was marked by widespread mismanagement and instances of hooliganism. Large groups of protestors were seen misbehaving with commuters, blocking vehicles, and creating ruckus on busy South Mumbai streets.
Even as thousands of protestors yelled, danced, played loud music, and used speakers to make anti-government statements, there were a few who were protesting silently for the cause. One such example was Pramod Pawde, who had come from Nanded. “I lost my leg to bone cancer in 2019. I am a BCom graduate but jobless. Everyone says Marathas are rich and don’t need any reservation. But not all Marathas are rich. There are some like us who hail from poor backgrounds; reservation would help us provide for our families,” he said.
Protesting in the steady rain took a toll on several protestors and as of Saturday evening, seven people were taken to GT Hospital. “Two patients were brought in ambulance by the policemen, five were brought by fellow protestors. Three patients had caught fever due to exertion and getting wet in rain on the previous day, one patient fell unconscious, and the rest were treated for minor bruises,” informed Dr Pritam Shilvanta, RMO, GT Hospital.
‘Jarange on nothing but water’
Sources stated that as Manoj Jarange Patil’s does not trust government doctors, a team of doctors has been travelling with him from Aurangabad. His personal physician, Dr Vinod Chaware, MD Medicine, told Sunday mid-day, “He has travelled for two days continuously on August 27 and 28. And he has not consumed anything other than two glasses of water on August 29 (Friday) and one glass of water on Saturday. He is not allowing us to check him properly. He has extreme weakness.”
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