The Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA) in Maharashtra has objected to the bandh on Monday, called by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition government to protest last week's violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.
The traders' union in a statement on Sunday said they were limping back to business after eighteen months of lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the bandh would hit their earnings.
The MVA government comprising the Shiv Sena, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is supporting the bandh. The state government itself had announced the bandh at a joint press conference of the three parties.
The FRTWA, however, said it does not support the bandh. "We oppose the killing of farmers in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri. Whoever was responsible for the killings should be punished. But FRTWA does not support any bandh called by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government," the traders' group chief Viren Shah said in a video statement.
"We have suffered huge losses for the past 18 months due to lockdown. Our business is slowly picking up. In the middle of the festive season when customers have started coming out to shop, let us do our business peacefully. We appeal to the government to allow retail businesses to remain open. We hope that shopkeepers are not harassed or forced to remain shut," Shah said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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