Halla Bol: Over 2,000 cops deployed in Mumbai ahead of MVA morcha; BJP to stage counter-protest
The Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) 'Halla Bol' protest will start near JJ Hospital and will end at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai. The MVA protest is being seen as an attempt to rally the allies after the Uddhav Thackeray-led alliance government was toppled in June this year.
FollowMumbai will on Saturday (December 17) witness two protest marches– one by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) 'Halla Bol' protest against Eknath Shinde's government and the other one is a counter-protest by the ruling ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
According to reports, officials have deployed over 2,500 police personnel on the streets to ensure that no troublesome incident takes place in the city. Adequate number of police personnel has been deployed on the route of the march to maintain law and order.
Speaking to a news agency, an official said that as many as 317 police officers, 1,870 constables, 22 platoons of State Reserve Police Force and at least 30 squads of Riot Control Police will be on hand to maintain law and order in the city.
Leaders of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, one of the reasons for the MVA protest is the "insults" of the state's icons like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. The other reasons for the protest include, "atrocities" against Marathi-speakers in border areas of Karnataka, industrial projects being taken out of the state and "injustice" meted out to Maharashtra.
It is reportedly said that NCP chief Sharad Pawar is likely to join MVA's 'Halla Bol' Morcha today. He will then address a rally at the concluding point of the protest.
Speaking to reporters, State Congress president Nana Patole said, "The protest will showcase people's anger against the government of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and BJP."
The Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) 'Halla Bol' protest will start near JJ Hospital and will end at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai. The MVA protest is being seen as an attempt to rally the allies after the Uddhav Thackeray-led alliance government was toppled in June this year.
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Earlier on Friday, BJP's Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar announced that his party would also organise its own 'Maafi Mango' protest in Mumbai on Saturday demanding an apology from the MVA for "insulting" Dr BR Ambedkar and Hindu deities.
Ashish Shelar had said that "Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had tried to create a controversy over Ambedkar's birthplace, while another leader Sushma Andhare, insulted Lord Ram, Lord Krishna, saint Dynaneshwar and saint Eknath as well as the Warkari community."
