Protesters torched vehicles, vandalised buses, blocked highways, in parts of Maharashtra a day after youth killed self by jumping into Godavari.
Mumbai: Maratha reservation protests turned violent in parts of Maharashtra a day after a 28-year-old man committed suicide by jumping into the Godavari river in Aurangabad Monday.
Protesters torched vehicles, vandalised buses, attacked police vehicles, burnt tyres and blocked highways, roads and railways in some places Tuesday. Community leaders have planned a bandh in Mumbai Wednesday.
While their primary demand remains the same, Maratha community leaders, politicians and analysts say the nature of the protests that used to be just a peaceful march until last year has now taken an angry anti-CM form. Besides, some say, the stir also seems to have lost some of its organisational control.
While both the erstwhile Congress-NCP ruling alliance and the current BJP-led governments promised a 16 per cent quota for the community, the decision was struck down by the Bombay High Court, which is still hearing the case.
Meanwhile, leaders say the immediate trigger for the recent protests was the government’s planned recruitment drive for 72,000 people in the state.
Speaking in the legislature, CM Devendra Fadnavis last week assured that the government will keep 16 per cent positions in the fresh recruitment drive vacant until the court decision comes through, but the Maratha community is unwilling to accept the state’s word.
‘CM’s remarks triggered protests’
“The protests have hundred per cent taken an anti-CM tone. The CM is directly responsible for this violence. He has shown complete lack of faith in the Maratha community though we have been exhibiting self-restraint and protesting peacefully all this while,” said Pravin Gaikwad, state coordinator of Maratha Kranti Morcha and the chief of Sambhaji Brigade, a Maratha outfit.
Gaikwad was referring to the chief minister’s decision of not travelling to Pandharpur in Solapur Monday to perform the annual Ashadi Ekadashi puja. Citing intelligence reports of the possibility of certain Maratha groups creating unrest at the event, Fadnavis said he will not attend this year’s puja in Solapur to prevent any untoward incident in the larger interest of the devotees gathered there, angering Maratha activists.
Gaikwad also slammed the planned recruitment drive, calling it Fadnavis’ “political arithmetic”.
Virendra Pawar from the Maratha Kranti Morcha told reporters, “To make such serious allegations against a community, which has staged 58 silent and completely peaceful protests over a year was really infuriating.
“It angered people further and one of our brothers took a jal samadhi (jumped into the river in protest). We want Fadnavis to apologise to the community for this remark,” Pawar added.
The opposition also attacked Fadnavis, saying his statement that framed members of the Maratha community as criminals is the main reason why the protests have reached this stage.
“It is this government’s strategy to brand whoever is opposing them as criminals. When farmers protested, they were called Naxalites; Elgaar Parishad members were called Maoists,” said Congress leader Sachin Sawant.
“The CM wants this protest in a larger strategy of isolating the Marathas and getting sympathy from other communities in Maharashtra,” Sawant claimed.
Political analyst Surendra Jondhale said with the direct attack on the chief minister, the protests have not just taken a violent turn, but have also acquired a casteist undertone.
“These protests are not just for seeking reservation for Marathas, but are warnings to the ruling establishment that people don’t want a Brahmin chief minister,” Jondhale said.
He also claimed the trigger is largely the build-up of momentum ahead of the 2019 elections.
‘Protests gone out of control’
A senior Maratha leader who did not wish to be named said that organisations have lost control of their cadres. “The protests have gone out of our hands now. There is no organisation in what is happening right now. People in Marathwada are acting of their own accord,” he said.
“Some decisions that the government has taken may not have been communicated properly to the people on the ground and there is immense unrest,” he added.
Another Maratha leader said, the government has consistently ignored the Marathwada region, the epicentre of the recent wave of protests, and violent sparks at some point of time were expected.
Shashikant Pawar of the Maratha Mahasangh said, “People from Marathwada are feisty, spirited. If they are kept chained for a long time in the face of constant injustice, there is bound to be a backlash at some point.”
“This is their last resort and the problem is only going to get worse unless the government gives the community something in hand,” he added.
Govt is doing its best, says BJP minister
BJP minister Chandrakant Patil told ThePrint that the government has done its best to communicate to the people all the steps that it has taken for the Maratha community, and with the issue being in the court, the government’s hands are tied.
“We have given debt waivers to farmers, sanctioned large irrigation projects, given a fair minimum support price, but some people who cannot bear to see the government’s progress are creating unrest,” he claimed.
“There are some legal hurdles for which they want immediate answers, but unless the government receives a report from the backward classes commission recommending reservations from Marathas, we cannot do much,” Patil said.
He said work on the report is underway and the government will accept the report as it is once it receives it.
“We are appealing to people that violence is not the answer. The impeccable record of the Maratha community, which staged so many peaceful protests, is being dented,” the minister said.