The Maratha community’s agitation for reservation in jobs and education entered its second day on Wednesday with the Maratha Kranti Morcha calling for a bandh in Mumbai and adjoining areas on Wednesday.
The Maratha leaders have demanded that they be given the OBC status by the government and not reservation because any quota, beyond the existing 50 per cent, would be difficult to implement.
If the demand of the Maratha leaders is accepted, they would qualify for all the benefits given under the existing OBC quota.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra witnessed a state-wide bandh observed by Maratha outfits, a day after the death of a Maratha youth in Aurangabad.
Kalasaheb Shinde (27) had committed suicide on Monday by jumping into a river. The Marathi Kranti Morcha has vowed that the agitation will continue until Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis issues an apology to the community.
Gathering at the different locations in Mumbai and the neighbouring regions on Wednesday, protesters raised slogans against the chief minister and Public Works Department Minister Chandrakant Patil for allegedly insulting sentiments of the Maratha community.
The protest intensified on Wednesday as the agitators attacked public buses in Mumbai, and the neighbouring Thane and Navi Mumbai. The workers of Maratha Kranti Morcha reportedly blocked a train in Thane after which trans-harbour between Thane-Vashi-Panvel was suspended.
Jagganath Sonawane (45), who had attempted suicide after consuming poison on Tuesday, died on Wednesday in a hospital in Aurangabad.
On Tuesday, large-scale violence had marred a state-wide protest by Maratha outfits demanding reservation for the community in Maharashtra, where a constable died and nine other policemen were injured amid suicide attempt by three agitators.
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Agitators had clashed with the police and torched vehicles at several places, while Internet services were suspended in rural areas of Aurangabad district to prevent any untoward incident. In Jalna, the police fired in the air to scatter protesters.
The impact of Tuesday’s bandh was more visible in Aurangabad and adjoining districts in the central region of the state, a day after the death of a protester.
Quotas for Marathas, a politically influential community that constitutes around 30 per cent of the state’s population, has been a hugely contentious issue.
Protester Jayant Sonawane, 31, from Aurangabad, sought to emulate Shinde’s example by jumping onto a dry river bed.
In Thane, activist Mangesh Suryavanshi (38) jumped into a creek near the Ganesh Ghat, but was saved by police and others, Thane Police PRO Sukhada Narkar said. He received minor injuries and was admitted to a hospital.
At Kaygaon, Aurangabad, protesters shouted slogans hailing Shinde as a ‘martyr’, police said.
Pune saw sporadic incidents of stone pelting. Some people threw stones at an administrative building in Baramati and a state transport bus was attacked, ASP Sandip Pakhale said.
Chief Minister Fadnavis had called an emergency high-level meeting on Tuesday to review the “progress” made by the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission on the issue.
(With agency inputs)