Don’t get violent, Maratha outfits tell community, ask government to take action

Maratha outfits, which organised earlier agitations for reservations, on Thursday distanced themselves from the violent protests that took place in several cities last week

Maratha outfits, which organised earlier agitations for reservations, on Thursday distanced themselves from the violent protests that took place in several cities last week.

Maratha community members take part in a sit-in protest in Pune on August 2. (Sanket Wankhade/HT)

They even asked the BJP government to take strict action against anyone resorting to violence but also gave it a five-day ultimatum to declare a timebound programme to provide reservation to community.

The groups said if the government does not respond by August 7, they would hold sit-in agitations from August 9.

The outfits’ announcement came after a meeting of Maratha groups in the Parli taluka of Beed district in Marathwada. Organisers from 26 districts attended the meeting, and their leaders asked the community not to put their lives in danger for reservations. Parli was the centre for the first sit-in protest 16 days ago, before the protests had turned violent.

“From now, the community will not adopt any other protest method, except sit-ins. Community members will not block roads or hold violent protests, but if they do, we will not be responsible for them,’ said Abasaheb Patil, state coordinator from the Parli district. “Our priority is to also maintain peace. Some people are resorting to violence in the name of the agitation, and we want to end this completely.”

Despite several appeals from community leaders and CM Devendra Fadnavis, two people committed suicide on Thursday. Trushna Mane, a 20-year-old woman from Osmanabad, consumed poison; her parents claimed she committed suicide in solidarity with the community’s demand for reservation. R Raja, superintendent of police, Osmanabad, said, “But, it is too early to come to a conclusion.”

In Aurangabad, 22-year-old Umesh Indait, a BSC graduate, hanged himself. “In a suicide note, he said he was a graduate, but did not have a job as he is a Maratha,’’ said Chiranjeev Prasad, Aurangabad commissioner.

With Mane and Indait, so far, there have been eight reservation-related suicides in the state. However, the protesting outfits claimed on their official Twitter handle that there have been 14 such deaths.

Patil has made it clear that all sit-in protests will only be held outside the tehsil and collector offices across the state and that all future decisions over the Maratha reservation demad will be taken from the Parli district only. Considering how poor the coordination among Maratha groups has been so far, and in the absence of a central leadership, it is unclear if the outfits will follow this.

A BJP minister said the government will allow peaceful protests. “As far as recruitments go, we cannot stay them. But, we will keep aside 16% jobs for Marathas by releasing only a certain number of jobs.’’

Even as agitators signalled an end to the violence, the CM, in damage control mode, called for a meeting of all prominent members of the Maratha community. He also called a meeting of BJP legislators from across the state. Fadnavis, who has been directly targeted through the agitations, had been isolated over the issue, as his cabinet colleagues did not come to his government’s defence.