Sharad Pawar Cancels Tomorrow’s Maharashtra Bandh: Find Out Why

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), and Congress, had called for a bandh on Saturday, August 24.

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday called for the withdrawal of the Maharashtra bandh scheduled for Saturday in response to a ruling by the Bombay High Court.

The bandh, initially organized by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance—which includes the NCP(SP)—was meant to protest a sexual assault incident involving two four-year-old girls in a school in Badlapur and to urge the government to take swift action.

However, on Friday, the Bombay High Court intervened and barred all political parties and individuals from supporting or participating in the bandh. A division bench comprising Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar directed the Maharashtra government to take all necessary measures to prevent the bandh from taking place.

Sharad Pawar, writing in Marathi on X, explained, “A statewide public shutdown was initially called for tomorrow in response to the Badlapur incident, to draw the government’s attention to the issue. However, the Bombay High Court has ruled the bandh unconstitutional. Due to time constraints, appealing to the Supreme Court against this order is not feasible. The Indian judiciary is a constitutional body, and in respect of the court’s order, the bandh should be withdrawn.”

The Congress party also withdrew its support for the bandh, with state unit chief Nana Patole announcing that party members would instead hold protests across Maharashtra from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde welcomed the Bombay High Court’s order, describing it as a “slap” to the Opposition. He affirmed that the government would comply with the court’s directive.