First Maharashtra bandh was ‘great triumph of working class'

Most of the red flags at Maharashtra’s first statewide bandh were literal.

- Sharmila Ganesan

Stones remained largely unthrown and buses unburnt in the city on the Wednesday of August 12, 1964. The 24-hour token strike saw droves of mill workers marching with flags and posters towards the Collectors’ office amid pouring rain, even as middle-class office-goers shouted anti-price-rise slogans outside their respective workplaces.

Restaurants were shut despite being allowed to remain open, BEST buses and Victoria carriages were missing in action, and local trains wore an empty look on this day when none of the 64 textile mills in the city breathed out black smoke. Supervisory staff at State Bank of India conducted “some restricted business”, according to a TOI report, and foodgrain handlers at Mumbai’s docks, railway yards and government godowns continued to work, chiefly to prevent the supply of irony. The hartal, after all, was against the rising prices and shortage of food.