Uma locks retail store in Indore

INDORE: Bhartiya Jan Shakti (BJS) president Uma Bharti on Sunday led a rally to a retail store here and symbolically locked its doors, claiming that the entry of multinational companies in the retail sector would ruin small businesses.

"We are not against the store but its entry into the retail sector has affected small businesses," said Bharti, who carried a vegetable basket while leading a large number of fruit and vegetable vendors and BJS workers to the retail outlet at Janjeerwala Square.

The company had closed the outlet before the rally but Bharti still put a lock on its doors.

Bharti claimed to have written to the retail company a fortnight ago, asking it to close down its outlets in 15 days, and had threatened to put locks on the doors of the stores as a mark of protest if they were not shut.

Similar protest will be organised in the state capital Bhopal, she told reporters at the site of the protest.

Bharti also threatened to intensify the protests if the outlets continued to operate in Madhya Pradesh.