Marathas, a politically influential community that constitutes around 30 per cent of the state's population, have been demanding 16 per cent reservation in government jobs and education.
All the essential services, schools and colleges have been excluded from the bandh.
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
'Why did they attack us? What was our fault?' 'They killed a woman. They burnt down vehicles.' 'They pelted stones at us over a 45 km stretch. There was no police bandobast.'
However, no one was injured in the incident.
The shutdown generated tension in Mumbai and a number of towns and cities across Maharashtra.
10 central trade unions have called a nationwide shutdown against 'anti-worker policies' of the central government. Apart from being successful in Bengal, Kerala and NE states, the bandh has also got support from Cong leader Rahul Gandhi and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Bandh supporters say it is an important tool to register a protest. Critics say it hurts the people, their livelihood and the economy.
More than 600 people, including Congress leaders and workers, were detained during the bandh call given by the party demanding the resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over Indian Police Service officer D G Vanzara's letter.
Refuting reports in a section of the media, Shiv Sena on Sunday night said it has not called for a bandh in Mumbai on Monday. The clarification was made by Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut in the wake of reports that shops, commercial establishments and educational institutions would remain closed on Monday to mourn the death of Bal Thackeray.
As violence broke out, police baton-charged the protesters and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse them. Several persons, including 40 police personnel, were injured and more than 15 state transport buses were set ablaze. More than 360 persons were booked in connection with the violence, police said.
Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and Republican Party of India on Tuesday appealed to people of Maharashtra to observe bandh on May 31 to demand complete rollback of the steep petrol hike of Rs 7.50 per litre.
There was no report of devotees facing any inconvenience even as shops and eateries downed their shutters and vehicles remained off roads.
The bandh has been called by pro-Kannada and farmers' organisations, protesting the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal's interim order rejecting the state's petition seeking 7.56 tmcft for drinking water projects.
'What has taken the government so long to understand what the people of this country are going through?'
The combined Opposition's call for a Bharat Bandh on Monday has brought most of the country to a near standstill. Rediff.com correspondents report from across the country
The Shiv Sena has spurned Congress' request to participate in the bandh.
At least 20 FIRs were registered in connection with stone-pelting during rallies held in protest against the Tripura communal violence in five districts of Maharashtra and 20 persons were arrested, police said on Saturday.
Many companies, including Reliance Industries Ltd, have postponed their board meetings, scheduled for Wednesday, in view of the bandh called by Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party to protest on Monday's blast in Mumbai.
A bandh called by the National Democratic Alliance, Left parties and the Samajwadi Party to protest against diesel price hike, Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail and cap on subsidised LPG on Thursday evoked mixed response as protestors disrupted road and rail traffic in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha but it had little impact in Mumbai.
Estranged Thackeray cousins -- Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray participated -- though not together -- in a morcha for the cause of textile mill workers in Mumbai on Thursday.
Big players like Wal-Mart will kill the Indian retail sector," Prakash Javadekar, member of BJP in Rajya Sabha said.
Sena has not supported Gaikwad's act but senior party leaders have expressed reservations over the airlines' action against him
Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar, said Maharashtra Democratic Front, Maharashtra Left Front, besides 250 organisations, have supported Wednesday's shutdown.
The party was fined Rs 20 lakh by the Bombay High Court on June 22 2005 on a Public Interest Litigation alleging that the city suffered a loss of Rs 50 lakhs due to the bandh.
The common man was bearing the brunt of the escalating prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas, the Congress said.
Mumbai's Azad Maidan will be to be the venue for mass meetings and demonstrations for those participating in the nationwide general strike called by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions on Tuesday.
So how is it going to affect the common citizen?
Some 8.5 lakh chemists across the nation on Wednesday downed their shutters demanding action from the government against "illegal" online sale of medicines.
The Bombay high court has ordered the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party to pay Rs 20 lakh each as compensation to the Maharashtra government for the losses suffered during a bandh they called on July 30, 2003 in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, the rupee opened at Rs 46.11/12 per dollar and was quoted at Rs 46.1125/1225 in late morning deals, it changed little from overnight close of Rs 46.1150/1250.\n\n\n\n
Mumbaikars searched for ways to get out of the many traffic snarls, reports Rediff.com's Hemant Waje who was caught in the traffic blockade for hours during Wednesday's Maharashtra bandh.
No report of the violence was sent by Mumbai's police commissioner to the government. Why was the violence then considered serious enough to be included in the Terms of Reference? Was it a balancing act to counter the accusations that were then being made against Hindutva leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote?
'I never had any nakhras, never threw tantrums, so I got along with all my heroes.'
'How many voices from that time have stood the test of time?' 'There have been RJs before him and after him, but no one has enjoyed his popularity and longevity.'
Political parties and social organisations have called for a bandh in Pune on Wednesday to protest the murder of anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar.
Tension brewed in parts of Mumbai and adjoining Thane districts on Wednesday following Tuesday's incident of stone pelting on Raj Thackeray's convoy by alleged Nationalist Congress Party workers in Ahmednagar district, with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supporters attacking NCP office in Ambernath and calling a bandh.
