After Maratha unrest, Dhangars protest, seek quota change

They have now threatened to intensify their agitation for which they are going to hold a meeting on August 15 in Pandharpur of Solapur district

After the Marathas, the Dhangar (shepherd) community on Monday hit the streets over reservation and held morchas and raas rokos (road blockades) in many parts of Maharashtra. The community has been long demanding a rise in the existing reservation quota of 3.5% and an inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.

Dhangar community members protest against the state’s inaction to fulfil their reservation demands, in Aurangabad on Monday. (HT PHOTO)

They have now threatened to intensify their agitation for which they are going to hold a meeting on August 15 in Pandharpur of Solapur district.

Monday’s agitation was part of the 15-day ultimatum given by the community to the state government to take a decision over their demands. The community will submit memorandums to all tehsildars across the state on Tuesday.

On Sunday, a 20-year-old student from Parbhani district had committed suicide in solidarity with the community’s demand. Before hanging himself, Yogesk Karke had sent a message to his friend informing that he is committing suicide over reservation.

Navnath Padalkar, the state coordinator of the Maharashtra Dhangar Aarakshan Kruti Samiti (MDAKS), a state-level action committee, said the state government’s attitude seems to not favour their demand, following which they have decided to take on the Devendra Fadnavis-led government.

The agitations were held at Vasai, Alibaug, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Kolhapur, Jalgaon, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati, Dhule, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani and in Latur. At most places, agitators blocked the roads and held sit-in protests. Protestors at Vasai also threatened to forcibly enter the chief minister’s (CM) official residence — ‘Varsha’ — at Malabar Hill, if the state governments didn’t decide on the demand by August 25.

The community has a population of 1.5 crore in the state. The Dhangar community currently comes under the Nomadic Tribes (NT) category and is entitled to get 3.5% reservation being provided by the state government. It has been demanding to be included in the ST category that gets 7% reservation.

On Friday, CM Fadnavis had assured to make recommendations to the Centre for the same to a delegation led by community leader and Member of Parliament Vikas Mahatme. He also informed the delegation that the government is expecting a study report from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on the issue by the end of this month.

The Maratha community has also been demanding 16% reservation in government jobs and education and has now resorted to violent protest supporting the demand. Padalkar said, “Unlike Marathas, if Dhangars decided to come on roads with full force then it will be almost impossible to control them.”