Police personnel stand guard at the Mira Road.
Credit: PTI Photo
Thane: Security continues to be beefed up in Mumbai’s Mira Road suburbs amid the Uttar Pradesh-style bulldozer action which followed after the communal flare-up and clashes coinciding with the Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya.
Meanwhile, the Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar (MBVV) Police Commissionerate has warned citizens against spreading rumours.
A day after the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government initiated bulldozer action, state minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha said: “The bulldozer action in Mira Road gives the same message that the rioters who break the law in Maharashtra will not be spared.”
Independent MLA from Mira Bhayander, Geeta Jain, said that threats would not be tolerated and criticised the restriction of movement in Naya Nagar area, which has a significant Muslim population.
"If a family is celebrating their festival and women are carrying flags of their religion then no one can stop them as it is their right and if someone stops them from bursting firecrackers and push them, spit on them and vomit on them and also thrash them, saying 'will your Ram come to save you?' and also force them to say Allah Hu Akbar. This is like taking away their freedom," she said.
On the other hand, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi founder Prakash Ambedkar said: "The Mira Road bulldozer politics orchestrated by Eknath Shinde and BJP-led Maharashtra government is petty to say the least. It is designed to escalate oppression and perpetuate an environment of fear and helplessness among the minorities. If the structures were indeed illegal, then a due process, rule of law and justice has to be followed. It was not just the shops and houses that are being razed down but the Constitution as well.”