Mumbai, January 2: Maharashtra remained on the edge on Wednesday amid a statewide shutdown called by a Dalit organisation to protest the Devendra Fadnavis government’s alleged failure to stop the violence in Bhima Koregaon in Pune district earlier this week.
Clashes between Dalit groups and supporters of right-wing Hindu organisations erupted at Bhima Koregaon and neighbouring villages during the celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of a British-Peshwa battle in which the forces of the British East India Company defeated the Peshwa’s army. A 28-year-old man was killed in the violence.
The shutdown evoked a greater response in mofussil areas compared to urban pockets of Mumbai, Pune, Thane, and Nagpur and other cities. Dalit protesters jumped on railway tracks, shouting slogans and waving flags to block tracks at the Thane railway station on Wednesday morning, but were prevented by the security forces and the traffic on the Central Railway line remained uninterrupted