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Govt scrambles to placate Maratha protesters, shunts out senior police officers from Jalna district
Holding Superintendent of Police Tushar Doshi responsible for the lathi charge, the Shinde government sent him on compulsory leave while additional SP Rahul Khade and deputy SP Mukund Aghav were transferred out of the district. IPS officer Shailesh Balkawade, along with some other officers, has been appointed instead
Mumbai: After the statewide uproar by the Maratha community over the lathi charge on protesters in Jalna’s Anatarvali Sarti village on Friday, the state government on Sunday swung into action. Shunting out senior police officers from the district, it also began a dialogue with the protesters to restore reservations for the Maratha community.
Holding Superintendent of Police Tushar Doshi responsible for the lathi charge, the Shinde government sent him on compulsory leave while additional SP Rahul Khade and deputy SP Mukund Aghav were transferred out of the district. IPS officer Shailesh Balkawade, along with some other officers, has been appointed instead.
Chief minister Eknath Shinde who was in Buldhana to attend the Shasan Aplya Dari outreach programme, announced the action against the police officers there. “We are ready to conduct even a judicial probe, as demanded by the opposition, if the need arises,” he said. As of now, additional director-general of police (law and order) Sanjay Saxena has been deputed to visit Jalna on Monday and conduct a probe.
The chief minister declared that his government was “committed” to restoring the Maratha reservation which he said would “remain forever”. “We are not going to rest till this is done,” he said. “We have begun the procedure. I don’t want to divulge too many details but the community will get what it deserves.”
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was in Leh for an official function, placated protester Manoj Jarange-Patil over the phone. “We would never support a lathi charge, and the police officer responsible for it will face action,” he reportedly said. “Chief minister Eknath Shinde has invited you for a dialogue, and your demands will get resolved only through dialogue.”
Fadnavis told Jarange-Patil that cases which were wrongly registered would be withdrawn. Jarange-Patil, however, later said that while he was “ready” for a dialogue, the protest would not be taken back until a proper government resolution was issued for the withdrawal of every single case.
The opposition, meanwhile, reiterated its demand that Fadnavis should resign, saying that he was behind the lathi charge. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray declared that it could not happen without orders from the CM or deputy CM. “I have seen the CMO very closely during our government,” he said. “Such a brutal lathi charge cannot take place without apprising the CM or deputy CM. The question that arises here is: whose government it is? Is it a ‘Khoke Sarkar’ or a Gen Dyer sarkar?”
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) MLA Jitendra Awhad demanded Shinde’s resignation. The CM, on his part, hit back at the opposition from the Shaasan Aaplya Daari dais. Alluding to NCP chief Sharad Pawar, he said, “Some people have done nothing in their entire life but are now reaching out to the protesters. But people have been showing them their place.” Shinde was referring to former chief minister Ashok Chavan and Uddhav Thackeray’s visit to the protesters on Saturday, where, he claimed, they were ticked off.
Rural development minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan, who also met Jarange-Patil and other protesters, in an allusion to Pawar asked “big leaders” to introspect on why people sloganeered against them. “Why did they ask what you had done for Maratha welfare in 40 years?” he asked. “I cannot utter the words used for the leader by the people. Our government gave the Marathas reservation in 2018, but the subsequent MVA government could not safeguard it.”
Shinde also emphasised that the reservation given by the Fadnavis government in 2018 was quashed by the Supreme Court when the MVA government led by Thackeray was in power. “Ashok Chavan was the head of the committee appointed to take steps to restore the reservation. What did they do?” he questioned.
IPS officer Balkawade, after taking charge, said that the administrative and legal procedures related to the incident were under way. “I would like to say to all the stakeholders that the police will act in a transparent way by keeping the common man’s interest in focus,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Maratha community continued its statewide protest on Sunday. In Mumbai, members protested at Marine Drive and Dadar while others held a rasta roko on the Solapur-Pune national highway. A bandh call was given in Nashik and a few other districts. “We will continue our agitation until Devendra Fadnavis resigns, accepting moral responsibility,” said Virendra Pawar, coordinator of the Maratha Kranti Morcha. The community and the outfits representing it have announced that they will continue the protest by keeping a few districts such as Sambhaji Nagar and Nanded shut and staging rasta rokos on some national highways.
