Quota stir has brought Mumbai to standstill: HC

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday noted the city has been brought to a standstill due to the ongoing Maratha quota agitation, and the situation is grim as reservation campaigner Manoj Jarange hardened his stand, by giving up water on day four of the stir.

The HC, while observing the protest has not been peaceful and has violated all pre-stir conditions, urged for normalcy to be restored in Mumbai, and gave an opportunity to Jarange, spearheading the stir, and his supporters to rectify the situation and ensure all streets are vacated by Tuesday noon.

It asked the Maharashtra government why the streets occupied by agitators, who have come to Mumbai from different parts of the state, are not being cleared and directed it to ensure more protesters do not enter the metropolis. While the quota agitation and its fallout were argued in the HC, a few 100 metres away at Azad Maidan, the site of the stir in south Mumbai, the 43-year-old activist remained unrelenting as he warned more than five crore Marathas will descend on the metropolis.