Bathing, cooking, dancing: Maratha protesters turn Mumbai's heritage zone into campsite

Mumbai, Aug 30 (PTI) Crowds appeared to be increasing on the second day of quota activist Manoj Jarange's hunger strike on Saturday with thousands of Maratha protesters virtually turning the area surrounding the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai into their camp.

As the rains took a break, many more people were on the roads outside the iconic Victorian edifices of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), bringing the traffic to a standstill in the morning.

The road outside the Azad Maidan -- where Jarange has launched his indefinite fast for Maratha quota -- has been closed for traffic, with parked vehicles of his supporters lining both sides.

Some of the protesters took their baths in the open, using water from the tankers arranged by the organisers or the BMC. A group of seven to eight young men was seen bathing in a fountain near the BMC building.

While many of them had to cook their food on the road the previous night, packets of cooked food including khichdi were being distributed on Saturday.

Every now and then, groups of protesters -- nearly all of them wearing saffron scarfs -- shouted slogans, asserting that they would not leave until the community was granted reservations. Many youngsters were also seen dancing on the road to the beats of `halgi', a traditional drum.

Some protesters reached the Jehangir Art Gallery, about one km away from the Azad Maidan, and shouted slogans. Many wandered off to visit local landmarks such as the Gateway of India and thronged eateries in the area In Navi Mumbai, where hundreds of vehicles carrying protesters have been parked, a group who claimed to be from Beed was seen heckling a young couple. The couple left the area immediately.

Groups of protesters blocked the road outside the CSMT in the morning, complaining that the BMC made no arrangement of shelter, water and toilets for them. Finally, Jarange appealed to them, over microphone from his protest site, to clear the road.

According to police, some 45,000 protesters travelled to south Mumbai on Friday, and about 30,000 of them stayed back overnight.

The protesters have arrived in the state capital from across Maharashtra -- a significant number of them from the eight districts of Marathwada -- in some 8,000 vehicles, as per police estimates. PTI DC KRK