Mumbai, the commercial capital of the country, was held to ransom by a handful of miscreants and the cops were the silent spectator to the whole melodrama which unfolded in losses to the tune of hundreds of crores to the economy. I asked one of the rioters the reason behind their unrest and he said he was unaware but doing so because of instruction from their local dalit leader and so was the response from other rioters in other parts of the city. It is a total gimmick; people riot without knowing the reason behind such agitations and education is the need of the hour to make citizens aware to fight for their rights.
A single day ‘Bandh’ for any reason whatsoever, means a loss of several hundred crores which indirectly is cut from people’s benefits, which may have accrued from govt spend for the benefit of the citizens. Also, govt’s instructions to the cops to keep mum came as a shock as such policy would only encourage more caste based riots in future. Govt should be stringent on caste based rioting and put leaders behind bars who indulge in such criminality!
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
