Mumbai: With south Mumbai’s business hubs at a standstill for the fourth consecutive day on Monday, former top cops and bureaucrats said the govt decision to allow Maratha protestors to enter Mumbai in such large numbers and converge in the area around Azad Maidan was a strategic blunder.Former Mumbai police commissioner MN Singh said it was the govt’s decision that left the city paralysed for four days. “The slow and guarded response of the state govt shows lack of decision-making at the govt level and also lack of strategy to anticipate the chaos that has been unleashed in south Mumbai.” Singh said it was an unprecedented situation, and he had never seen Mumbai coming to such a standstill due to protests in the past.Another former bureaucrat pointed out that with Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange resorting to his usual tactics of brinkmanship to force the govt to enter into an agreement, it was obvious that the state administration had not thought through the consequences of allowing the protestors to flout orders. The govt had given clearance for about 5,000 protestors to accompany Jarange to the protest, but it had clearly not created a mechanism to ensure that the number was complied with, he said.Singh said the govt failed to anticipate the chaos that would be unleashed by having protestors in large numbers moving around freely in the city. In the govt’s defence, a senior BJP Minister said HC had allowed a limited number of protestors and they had agreed in writing that they would not exceed the number. “Accordingly, they were provided parking. All facilities as per agreed numbers were provided. The number exceeded what was agreed, so the next day all necessary additional arrangements were made. BMC was on alert mode. Govt and BMC can’t breach the court order,” the minister said. CM Devendra Fadnavis is also the state’s Home Minister. A former top bureaucrat said the state govt seemed to be in no hurry to resolve the impasse. “So far neither the CM, two DCMs or any cabinet ministers have met Jarange. If govt doesn’t agree to Jarange’s demands which, officials say don’t fit within the legal framework, the crisis is expected to escalate. Civic and police administration aren’t prepared for the massive scale of protests. Govt has just tried to play a balancing act. It seems as if the state had outsourced governance to the HC and was waiting for HC directions to get the city back to normal,” he said.Singh said the crisis was a result of political decisions. “It was a blunder to allow protestors to enter Mumbai. Once they’re in, there is now way to control them. I don’t blame the police but the political decision-making or lack of it which allowed Mumbai to be paralysed. It was a strategic mistake. Police should have been given clear directions which seemed to be lacking,” Singh said. Ends//
