MUMBAI: The senior leaders of the Congress Party a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi or the MVA government consisting of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra that had collectively called for a statewide shutdown (bandh) today held a sit-in at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai to protest against the violence in Uttar Pradesh (UP) Lakhimpur Kheri district that killed eight people.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and Mumbai chief Bhai Jagtap along with other senior leaders like Congress Legislature Party Leader, Balasaheb Thorat, former CM and current PWD minister Ashok Chavan first marched up to the Governor's house with black bands on their arms and then held a silent fast right to register their protest.

It is alleged that Ashish Mishra, the son of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union of State in Ministry of Home affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra rammed his car into a gathering of slogan-shouting demonstrators amid a peaceful black-flag protest last Sunday and moved down four farmers. Four others were killed in the violence that followed after the incident.

According to Bhai Jagtap, the BJP government both in the centre as well as in the state of had unleashed unprecedented terror on farmers who have been peacefully protesting for the past several months and the aim of today's statewide protest was to wake people up against such barbaric and 'anti-farmer' policies on our anna data (Giver of food) who are now being literally crushed to death by their leaders.

Other Congress leaders at the protest site said that the violence unleashed on farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri is an act of desperation by BJP who tried their best to save the main culprit the son of a Union minister, however, the party will not cow down their struggle and will fight till we get justice to the farmers. 

Congress party members along with Shiv Sena and NCP across the state took out protest marches in support of the statewide bandh. 

NCP leaders held a protest march at the Hutatma Chowk in central Mumbai, Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil along with Supriya Sule and other senior leaders participated in the protest.