The raging Maratha quota agitation veered dangerously towards arson and vandalism on Monday, with agitators torching the homes and offices of two elected representatives from Beed district who are members of rival Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions.
CM Eknath Shinde, scrambling to break the quota deadlock, said that the Maratha reservation movement was losing direction. Quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, enfeebled by days of fasting is standing by his demands.
MLAs home set ablaze
The home of Prakash Solanke, NCP (Ajit Pawar group), legislator from Majalgaon was set ablaze after a bout of stone-pelting allegedly over remarks he made against Mr. Jarange-Patil while later that evening, the residence-cum-office of another NCP MLA, Sandeep Kshirsagar of the Sharad Pawar group, met with the same fate. Several two-wheelers and a couple of SUVs were gutted in the blaze that erupted at Mr. Solanke’s home.
Agitators in Beed were particularly violent, with demonstrators torching a Nagar Parishad building in Majalgaon and an NCP office in the district. In Sambhajinagar district, Maratha quota agitators vandalised the office of Prashant Bamb, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Gangagur.
Appealing to community members to refrain from any arson or violence, Mr. Jarange-Patil said: “I do not want to hear of any more arson and vandalism. This is a question of the future of poor members of the Maratha community. If these incidents do not stop, then I will have to announce a different decision. Do not take any step that will hurt me. There is no need to agitate in a violent manner.”
In a day marked by emergency meetings in the corridors of power in Mumbai and of chaotic violence on the ground, CM Shinde, after chairing a meeting of the sub-committee concerned with the Maratha reservation issue, announced that an advisory board of three retired judges would be formed to help the State government on the reservation issue.
He said that the Justice Shinde committee’s report (to study the socio-economic backwardness of the Maratha community) would be presented to the cabinet on Tuesday and that 11,530 Maratha community members, who had old Kunbi (OBC) records would begin to avail OBC reservation benefits immediately.
“The Justice (retired) Sandeep Shinde committee has given its first report. It will be presented to the cabinet. Of the 1.72 crore cases that have been checked, 11,530 members of the Maratha community have been found with Kunbi (OBC) certificates. They will begin to avail of OBC reservation benefits immediately,” said Mr. Shinde, who, however, appealed to Mr. Jarange-Patil to allow more time as any decision would have to be within the legal framework and hold water in the Supreme Court.
Jarange-Patil adamant
However, Mr. Jarange-Patil, remained adamant, insisting that all Marathas be given OBC Kunbi certificates regardless of whether or not there was proof that they were Kunbis in old records.
Mr. Shinde, while solicitous of Mr. Jarange-Patil’s rapidly declining health, however expressed displeasure at the rising incidents of violence, remarking that the agitation was losing direction and urged the quota activists to think who was behind the violence.
“This agitation is heading in another direction. Mr. Jarange-Patil and his team need to think why it is getting violent. Who is behind all this? I appeal to my brothers from the Maratha community not to take extreme steps,” said the CM.
Mr. Jarange-Patil insisted that ordinary Marathas were not the type to act violently, while remarking that the CM and his Deputy CMs first ought to control certain indiscrete people in their respective parties.
Meanwhile, after Shinde group MP Hemant Patil submitted his resignation to Speaker Om Birla to show solidarity with the quota agitation, another Shinde camp MP – Hemant Godse representing the Nashik parliamentary constituency – followed suit.
BJP MLA from Georai (in Beed distirct) Laxman Pawar, too, has submitted his resignation to Speaker Rahul Narwekar to demonstrate support for the quota agitation, as has Congress MLA Suresh Warpudkar of Parbhani district.
In Baramati, agitators blackened posters of Deputy CM Ajit Pawar while doing the same to CM Shinde’s posters in Shirdi.
Traffic flow was disrupted by the quota agitators in several districts of the Marathwada region, with at least 13 MSRTC buses being damaged over the last 48 hours, authorities said.
The violence has forced suspension of state bus services in Beed and Jalna. In Jalna, roads and highways, and even railway lines were blocked in certain places, with the Samruddhi Expressway witnessing major traffic snarls caused by demonstrators.
The boycott of political leaders increased in intensity, with several leaders from both ruling and opposition parties – like the BJP’s Bhagwat Karad and the Congress’ Ashok Chavan - being greeted with black flags by quota agitators.
A number of leaders like NCP MLA Rohit Pawar and Swabhimani Shetkari leader and former Maharashtra MP Raju Shetti have decided to either cancel or temporarily halt their roadshows and campaigns across the State owing to the agitation.
