BOMBAY: The unofficial bandh called by the Shiv Senain Bombay and Thane to protest the arrest of Sena MLA, Madhukar Sarpotdar, in Bombay and Anand Dighe in Thane was a failure in the face of very effective police action.

In Thane the army was called out to stage a flag march. Though there was tension in parts of Thane district on Feb.8 the bandh was a tame one compared to the sort of fear and terror that the Sena normally generates.

Though a scare had been built up since recently in Bombay there were only five cases of stoning on Monday and buses and trains plied normally but attendance in offices was very thin, The Commissioner of Police, Amarjeet Singh Samra, summed up saying that the “city remained peaceful and that the bandh was only 15% successful in the suburbs.”

The police were very swift in Stalling any move to create tension. The Sena was asked to remove the blackboards it put up at street comers on which it had directed people to stay indoors and for shops to remain closed. Flags put up by the Sena and the BJP in Sensitive areas were also removed by the police. A BJP delegation came to meet Samra and complained,

With the arrest of Sarpowdar much violence was expected now but the police swung into action and took 144 persons under preventive arrest Feb,9. Indeed in the Sena camp there was fear that more leaders would be arrested and many leaders and shaka pramukhs went underground. Samra said that there would be more arrests when necessary. As for the arrest of Bal Thackeray he said that he did not think it was necessary at the moment. But he said that all the cases against the Sena leader would be “brought to its logical conclusion.”

Very clearly the Sena for once was on the defensive and wherever there was tension the police seemed to have gained the upper hand, When the Commissioner went on his round at 6 a.m. he found that buses were not plying because drivers and conductors feared Sena action but the Commissioner’s reassurance saw the situation was normal but for a few minor incidents.

As for Sarpotdar’s arrest Samra pointed out that there was evidence that the MLA had engineered violence, “We have definite information that he engineered the riots. He was behind the scene. We also know that he had some political gains in mind,” Samra said. The police, he said, was gathering evidence and if it warranted TADA proceedings would be initiated against the Sena MLA.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 12, 1993