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Beed murder: Maratha-Vanjari divide backfires on students

Jan 16, 2025 07:23 PM IST

The murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in December last year has deepened the rift between the Maratha and Vanjari communities, traditionally on opposite sides of the socio-political divide

Swapnil Bade, a final-year MBBS student in Pune, has been troubled for the last few weeks. Close friends had been avoiding him, leaving him confused and unsettled. When the penny dropped, Bade was deeply hurt.

The situation in the district is peaceful and the police force have been deployed in areas that witnessed protests. (HT PHOTO)
The situation in the district is peaceful and the police force have been deployed in areas that witnessed protests. (HT PHOTO)

Bade hails from Beed district and believes that communal tensions back home are casting a shadow on his life in Pune. “Before this murder case, things were fine even though the recent protests over reservations had caused subtle tension. My friends and I would hang out together, eat our meals together, and discuss almost anything we wanted to. But, lately, they have been avoiding me, even stopping conversations when I join them,” Bade said.

When he confronted his friends, one of them said that people from Beed are “criminal-minded”. “They think I carry a gun just because I’m from Beed. How can I be held responsible for something that happened in my district,” Bade asked.

The murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in December last year has deepened the rift between the Maratha and Vanjari communities, traditionally on opposite sides of the socio-political divide. While Deshmukh was a Maratha, the men accused of his murder are Vanjaris, an Other Backward Class (OBC). The rift widened further in the run-up to the recent assembly elections, with the Marathas demanding reservations from the OBC quota in a full-blown agitation that echoed through the corridors of power.

Sachin Adhekar, former president of Maratha Seva Sangh and convener of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, said, “As a Maratha leader, I condemn the discrimination between communities. Pune is the cultural capital of Maharashtra and we will not tolerate this.” He said Marathas have been playing “big brother to the other community”, and anyone with a story of discrimination “can approach me”.

But the OBC community isn’t looking for a “big brother”; they are simply seeking their rightful place socially, and are against the Marathas compromising their quota in education and government jobs.

However, it’s more complicated than that. On Wednesday, when Walmik Karad, a close aide of state food and civil supplies minister Dhananjay Munde was remanded to of SIT custody after he was charged under MCOCA, Parli town, dominated by Vanjaris, observed bandh while Karad’s supporters protested the action against him. Karad’s alleged benefactor, Munde too is Vanjari.

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil accused the OBC community of “increasing the schism between the two communities”. “What they (supporters of Munde and Karad) are doing is casterism and dividing the two communities. Any such attempt will be met with a fitting reply,” warned Jarange-Patil, who quota agitation and his political moves had the ruling Mahayuti alliance on edge before the elections.

Political blame game

The Vajnari community is largely agricultural, with many of its members employed as cane cutters, migrating to Western Maharashtra between November and April to work in fields owned by Marathas.

While the Vanjaris and Marathas have traditionally been ranged against each other, the ruling BJP in Maharashtra has always enjoyed the support of the Vanjaries, which has produced leaders like Gopinath Munde, his daughter Pankaja, currently a Cabinet minister, and nephew Dhananjay Munde, the minister accused of shielding Walmik Karad.

The sarpanch’s murder has become a political hot potato with parties across the spectrum demanding ‘justice Deshmukh’ and the dismissal of Munde, an NCP minister. Suresh Dhas, MLA from Ashti in Beed, has been particularly relentless in his demand for Munde’s dismissal, upsetting NCP chief Ajit Pawar, who has urged chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to intervene.

Fadnavis is being cautious, saying in Shirdi on Sunday, “It’s a fact that Beed and Parbhani are not at peace. The state government will do everything it can to ensure justice to the families of the victims in Beed and Parbhani, where the peace needs to be restored. To achieve this, we all have to contribute.” The other victim is Somnath Suryavanshi, a youth who was arrested after violence broke out in Parbhani after a copy of the Constitution was desecrated on December 10. Suryavanshi died on December 15 after he was rushed to hospital from jail, following a ‘sudden illness’.

Social impact

The murder has brought to the fore a sense of lawlessness in Beed district. Data shared by the local police revealed that over 310 murders were registered in Beed in the last five years. Last year, there were 39 murders between January and November, an average of just under four a month. Beside murder and rape, 765 other crimes were registered in Beed in the last five years.

This unusually high crime rate has made things even more uncomfortable for Beed’s youth studying in Pune. Nitin Gitte, a student from Nandur Ghat preparing for the MPSC exams, said many Beed residents in metro cities are now concealing their identity. “A friend of mine had to move out of his rented flat because his landlord refused to rent to people from Beed.”

Swapnil Bade’s friend, Rajesh Munde, a BAMS student renting a small apartment in Narpatgiri Chowk, had a similar experience. Munde’s landlord told him, “ ‘This is Pune, not Beed. No violence is tolerated here.’ He even threatened to evict me,”said Munde.

Nitin Andhale, a scholar researching Beed’s political landscape, emphasised the long-term implications of the communal divide. “No one condones the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, and we all want justice. But blaming an entire community for the actions of a few is unfair. Political opportunism is pushing Beed’s common people into despair,” Andhale said.

Efforts at reconciliation

As tensions mount between OBCs and Marathas, there are some attempting to reduce the gap. Through a unique initiative called ‘Sharing Bites of Food’, social activist Datta Bargaje is bringing members of both communities together over meals. Half a dozen such gatherings have already taken place and 17 more are planned.

Bargaje, who has been working for the welfare of HIV-positive children for over two decades, is a member of the OBC community. He said, “It is heartbreaking to see communities that once coexisted peacefully now harbouring animosity. The younger generation is particularly vulnerable to this hostile environment. Instead of staying silent, we felt compelled to act and promote change.”

Former Beed corporator Vinod Muluk, who recently hosted Bargaje and other OBC families for lunch, underlined the importance of initiatives like this. “Beed is struggling with developmental challenges. It is crucial for both communities to understand that unity is the key to progress.”

Muluk pointed out that pointing fingers and posturing mask real issues. “Beed suffers from irregular water supply, and railway connectivity remains a distant dream. Instead of deepening divides, efforts should be directed towards resolving these pressing problems,” he said.

He makes a valid point. If only political leaders could look beyond their short-sighted agendas and genuinely work toward reconciliation between the two communities, a young Bade wouldn’t feel compelled to change his WhatsApp profile picture – from Bhagwan Baba, a saint of the Varkari sect, to “something more neutral” – just to avoid being identified with his community.

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