Mumbai: The Shivaji Park police station detained BJP leader Babubhai Bhawanji, a former deputy mayor, on Wednesday afternoon after he and his supporters gathered at Dadar in central Mumbai to sit on an indefinite hunger strike for the cause of hawkers in the city. Bhawanji, who heads the Mumbai Hawkers Unit, was detained from Veer Kotwal garden in Dadar (West) for trying to sit on fast without prior permission from the police. He was released later on bail bond.
According to Bhawanji, the Shiv Sena, the BMC and the police are dealing with hawker’s problems in an allegedly harsh manner despite the constitution granting equal rights to every citizen to practice profession of his/her choice. He demanded, that hawkers should be allowed to sell their wares at skywalks in the city that are lying
under-utilised until a comprehensive policy comes into force.
DCP (Zone V) Rajiv Jain said, “We have detained him and released him on a bail bond. We brought him from Veer Kotwal garden”
Congress president, Sanjay Nirupam, recently lent support of the party to hawkers in Mumbai and suburbs who were attacked by Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). The MNS projects itself as the true custodian of Marathi speaking people in the city given that most of the hawkers are north Indians.
