As Maratha quota stir turns violent, houses of NCP MLAs targeted

The incidents of violence took place through the day even as Maratha leader Manoj Jarange-Patil continued his indefinite hunger strike for the sixth day at a village in Jalna district. He said he will break his fast only after reservation is granted to the entire Maratha community.

As the agitation escalated, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met Governor Ramesh Bais in the evening and briefed him about the situation and the measures being taken to control it. Hours earlier, ruling ally BJP’s core committee met at Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s residence to discuss the issue.

In the morning, a group of slogan-shouting protesters barged into the residential complex of NCP MLA Prakash Solanke, who belongs to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s camp, in Majalgaon taluka of Beed district. They pelted stones and then set ablaze vehicles parked in the stilt, damaging parts of the building.

The mob then reached the office of the Majalgaon Nagar Parishad and set it on fire. They also hurled stones at police vehicles.

In the evening, a group of protesters torched the residence of NCP MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar, who is from the opposition Sharad Pawar camp, in Beed city. The protesters also vandalised and torched the NCP office in Beed.

In the wake of the attacks, the Beed District Collector imposed curfew until further orders. The curfew will remain in place in a 5-km radius of the district and taluka headquarters along with state and national highways in the district, the Collector’s order said.

In Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar’s Gangapur area, Maratha activists vandalised the office of BJP MLA Prashant Bamb in the afternoon.

Although the trigger behind the escalation was not immediately clear, Maratha-dominated villages had earlier banned the entry of politicians over the reservation issue. More than 400 villages have passed resolutions to this effect, while some have also passed resolutions to boycott the upcoming elections.

In the morning, a large group of protesters blocked the Dhule-Solapur highway with burning tyres, and hurled stones at state-run buses at some places, leading to the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation suspending its services in nine districts, mostly in Marathwada region.

Hoardings featuring the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Ministers were also damaged at several places.

Opposition leaders, meanwhile, slammed the state government over the attack on NCP MLA Solanke’s residence and demanded the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio.

“Maharashtra is in crisis. The Prime Minister and Union Home minister should immediately enquire into the situation. The Chief Minister should take the resignation of the state Home Minister as there has been a complete intelligence failure when a legislator’s house and a government office were burnt down,” said NCP working president Supriya Sule, the MP from Baramati.

With the pressure on public representatives growing, BJP MLA from Gevrai, Laxman Pawar, on Monday sent his resignation letter to Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar in support of the Maratha reservation demand.

Also, Shiv Sena’s Hemant Godse became the second MP from Chief Minister Shinde’s camp to announce his resignation in support of the Maratha demand. Earlier in the day, MP Hemant Patil, who had announced his resignation on Sunday, said he has submitted his letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s office.

In his resignation letter, which he sent to Shinde, Godse asked the Chief Minister to clarify his position on the issue and appealed to him to grant reservation to the Maratha community as soon as possible. “Considering the strong feelings of the Maratha community, I am resigning as an MP,” Godse stated in the letter.

Atul Benke, NCP MLA from Junnar, said he is ready to resign. “If my resignation is going to help the cause of Maratha reservation, then I am ready to resign…,” he said at a protest meet in his constituency.

Meanwhile, reacting to the attack on Solanke’s residence in Beed district, Maratha leader Jarange-Patil said the MLA must have provoked community members.

“First of all, Marathas would never do such a thing. Someone else must have done it. If Marathas have done it, they must have been provoked and instigated by the MLA. He has a habit of making controversial speeches,” he said. “But still I am appealing to all Marathas to protest peacefully….”

“I am also telling the police to not harass the Maratha community members who are protesting. If the Marathas are harassed, I myself will visit there and there will be repercussions. I also request CM Shinde to control his people who are making controversial statements,” he said.

This came even as Shinde said at a cabinet sub-committee meeting on Maratha reservation that Marathas who have records establishing them as Kunbis, will get the OBC Kunbi caste certificate. Shinde also appealed to Jarange-Patil to take medical treatment, assuring that the government will reach out to the protesters.

Following the meeting, Revenue Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil contacted Jarange-Patil and apprised him of the decision taken at the meeting and urged him to break his fast.

Jarange-Patil, however, refused to end his fast. “I told him that the protest would not be withdrawn and asked him to give Kunbi caste certificates to all the Marathas, not just only to those whose Kunbi caste records have been found. All Marathas should get reservation. My hunger strike will not be withdrawn,” he told reporters.

Jarange-Patil also said it was the second phase of his six-phase agitation and that the third phase would begin from November 1.

The issue of Maratha reservation snowballed after police allegedly resorted to lathicharge and used tear gas on protesters in Jalna’s Antarwali village on September 1.