Mumbai: A self-styled representative of north Indians in Mumbai was arrested in the small hours of Wednesday for allegedly playing a role in inciting Tuesday’s gathering of hundreds of migrants at Bandra in violation of Covid-19 social-distancing norms.
Vinay Dubey, a native of Uttar Pradesh, serves as president of an organisation called the Uttar Bharatiya Mahapanchayat. He is accused of passing on false information and asking migrant labourers and daily-wagers from north India to gather at Bandra (West) in suburban Mumbai to demand passage back home.
He has been remanded in police custody until 21 April.
Since the nationwide lockdown has seen inter- as well as intra-state travel grind to a near-complete halt, many migrants have been stranded away from home, with state governments around the country arranging food and shelter for them.
Over 1,000 migrants gathered at Bandra Tuesday afternoon around 3 pm, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the national lockdown until 3 May, with many demanding that they be sent home.
Given that Covid-19 is an extremely infectious disease, the gathering Tuesday was seen as constituting a major transmission hazard.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said in a tweet, “I have ordered an investigation into the rumour that claimed trains will take migrants back home. Those found guilty of sparking such rumours will be dealt with severely.”
Police in Mumbai have also arrested a local TV news reporter for allegedly misleading migrants with claims that special trains will be arranged (no date specified), but the Marathi journalist, Rahul Kulkarni, has defended himself by sharing the railways note that served as the basis of his report.
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A resident of Navi Mumbai
Dubey claims to be a champion for the cause of north Indian migrants living in Mumbai but is not “too popular” among them.
His social media profile reveals him to be a critic of PM Narendra Modi, the BJP and the RSS. According to sources close to him, he also visited Shaheen Bagh in Delhi as well as Mumbai Baug to express solidarity with protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
He is believed to be a resident of Airoli in Navi Mumbai.
After the first phase of the national lockdown kicked in 25 March, and thousands of migrants found themselves stranded in Mumbai, Dubey started the “Chalo Ghar Ki Aur (Let’s Go Home)” campaign to get them home.
The Mumbai Police FIR against Dubey, which can be accessed on the website, invokes a Facebook post where he called on north Indian migrant labourers to assemble at the Lokmanya Train Terminus (LTT) in Kurla and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai on 18 April if train services don’t resume by then. This post, which made no mention of Bandra (approx. over 10 km away from both locations), was subsequently shared by over 15,000 people.
The FIR states Dubey had threatened to hold a protest on behalf of migrant labourers on 18 April at Kurla, and had been promoting the same through social media.
He has been booked under Section 188 (disobedience to duly promulgated order by a government servant) of IPC and also under the Epidemic Act.
Meanwhile, amid reports that the gathering might have been the result of a turf war between two local leaders, NCP chief Sharad Pawar made an FB Live appeal Wednesday against the communalisation of the event.
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Becoming a public personality
Dubey is originally from Bhadohi district (close to Varanasi) in Uttar Pradesh and has been in news before.
He first came under public glare when he invited Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray — whose party was once known to lead violent protests against north Indian labourers — to address the community at a programme he organised in December 2018.
Although Thackeray attended the programme, MNS sources said it wasn’t without hesitation. “About four days prior to this programme, Raj saheb learnt that Dubey was not someone to be associated with. Since saheb could not cancel the programme as it would send a wrong signal to the people, he attended the programme,” said an MNS source.
Since Thackeray was attending an event organised by a north Indian platform, his speech received much media coverage across the country, which in turn bolstered Dubey’s profile. In 2019, Dubey contested the Maharashtra assembly elections as an independent from the Kalyan East constituency, but lost to the Shiv Sena.
Earlier this month, Dubey made a donation of Rs 25,000, on behalf of his father, an autorickshaw driver, to the CM’s Relief Fund for the fight against Covid-19. In a subsequent tweet, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the sum constituted Jatashankar Dubey’s life’s savings.
https://twitter.com/The_vinaydubey/status/1248578193155428353?s=20
Also Read: No matter how you look at it, India’s lockdown-2 can cost as many lives as it will save
Viney Dubey is a well educated, rational leader of oppresed people of India.
He has exposed the central government lack of preparation and diversion tactics.. and scared politics of bowing down to Trump and giving away life saving medications to America.
riha ho gaya hai.. 24 hours mai.
He is released by the Police as per the You tube video of Loktantra TV which has gone viral.. He is bragging about how Police can’t keep him in the Lockup in more than 24 hrs.
It’s a shame for all of us that such element’s r roaming free..
He is a fraud. Mr journalist get full details of his family.He is hiding his name/caste/religion.He is a Muslim on a mission led by the congress promoting their propaganda to divide
True
Punishment is not sufficient at all. More such people will continue to do this if this pathetic person is not oven fair punishment
It’s an shameful act to instigate poor needy people to throw themselves in such a precarious situation.
In depth investigation must be carried out & these perpetrator must be severally punished.
When the whole world is facing this disaster someone or group of people/parties/opportunist is taking this path .
Udhav Thakre will not do this to distract attention of public at least this is my take for little did I know of him as Mumbaikar.
Vinay Dubey who the hell is this guy & why aren’t police taking actions on his first such post FB. Let police put such trouble mongers behind bars preemptively to avoid such mayhem.
Who knows how many would have got infected & what will they do in next couple of weeks to prevent the spread.
May god save us & better sense prevail in minds of people.
Such insects flourish in a democratic country which clarifies that they are unfit to live in a democratic country. Such people behave properly while live in country like U A E
His only fault is he is trying to help poor migrant workers to go back to their homes.
Well said…. He was only trying to send poor labours to their homes by sending fb messages/videos. 😆😆
Today i ll also try to send food packets + Rs. 10K each of them through fb video.
Then tomorrow i ll try to send a satellite to Mars by posting an another video on FB.
Thanx for giving an idea. 😆😆
He is a bigot. And if government is provided food and shelter then why he gathered such huge mass, is he inviting them for exposure to corona.???
And…. Are you nuts or what….
He also contested election for NCP in Varanasi.
It’s quite obvious that this guy’s modus operandi depicts his aspirations to come into politics and since he knows he can’t get into mainstream easily without spending years working for people on floor , he found a novel way to gain attention by criticizing government. The guy is intelligent and dangerous as he duper Raj Thackeray to come to his invitation to give a speech and thereby establish his first entry into politics. He should be thrashed properly and should be handed over to the central administration as his connections with congress and NCP will release him after his remand. After coming out he will emerge as a bigger leader. This should not happen. But sadly it will. Please run a campaign to really teach a lesson to these kind of born again overnight aspiring politicians and make a lesson to others.
I agree
Bajao him left and right in jail,non stop
Another kanahya. His arrest is an eye wash .
As far as plight of the migrant workers and them being hungry etc is b sh it . No body inquired whether they had a full meal during normal times. This is a pandemic and the govt is doing whatever it can despite non cooperation from certain sections .
Another kanahya. His arrest is an eye wash .
As far as plight of the migrant workers and them being hungry etc is b sh it . No body inquired whether they had a full meal during normal times. This is a pandemic and the govt is doing whatever it can despite non cooperation from certain sections .
he should be made to stay in Dharavi instead of the safe confines of a jail. Such insensible acts should be treated as attempt to murder. Whatever be the motive and objective, dialogue with the administration can only be the accepted policy and inducing humble workers to step out and gather in such large numbers can not be accepted by any measure a sensible decision. Instead of providing for them, he was exposing them to much grace risk.
heat hard on the back of this moron so that can’t be able to sit for days! these so called Fing Activist are cancer and aids of this country, should be dealt with stern action.F HIM HARD!!
A good smear job against Vinay Dubey. Anyone who champions the cause of migrant workers should be thrown in jail. And these migrants dared to gather in large numbers on the streets of Mumbai despite the government arranging for all of them to watch Ramayan on empty stomachs. Truly appalling behaviour by ungrateful anti-nationals.
So migrants should be given a free pass to travel 1500 km to their villages just to have a good time with their family especially during the nights, while the other law abiding citizens sitting locked down at home pay for their adventurous desire for entertainment as Grant road business is too closed for them to be persuaded to stay where they are.
I haven’t seen one person die of starvation in the entire lockdown period. The ones who come on tv channels saying that they haven’t eaten for three days as food in not available, look as fit and hale & hearty as a 100 meter dasher at Olympics would look.
So migrants should be given a free pass to travel 1500 km to their villages just to have a good time with their family especially during the nights, while the other law abiding citizens sitting locked down at home pay for their adventurous desire for entertainment as Grant road business is too closed for them to be persuaded to stay where they are.
I haven’t seen one person die of starvation in the entire lockdown period. The ones who come on tv channels saying that they haven’t eaten for three days as food in not available, look as fit and hale & hearty as a 100 meter dasher at Olympics would look.
He seems an activist. Due to failed policy, workers are Hungary and stuck. He is trying to help them.
Put this moron in jail under NSA. This kind of people should be punished approproately.
Trouble monger and an upstart.
Should be dealt with sternly.
You will find a well designed modus operandi of Modi critics. Rather than constructive criticism, then often resort to destructive criticism and in this age of social media, such actions only help the ruling dispensation. These guys don’t even know how to play politics!
This Vinay Dubey must be severely punished. He should be debarred from contesting any election.