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A member of the Dhangar community, which has been demanding Scheduled Tribe reservation, threw turmeric powder on Maharashtra Revenue Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil in Solapur on Friday.
Shekhar Bangale, a member of Dhangar Aarakshan Kruti Samiti Bangale who had gone to meet Vikhe-Patil to submit a memorandum demanding reservation, was thrashed by the minister’s supporters and immediately taken into custody by police. He said that “we will not hesitate to blacken the face of ministers or the chief minister” if the community’s reservation demand is not met.
“We have submitted a memorandum to the guardian minister on behalf of Dhangar Aarakshan Kruti Samiti. We have demanded the long-pending reservation for the Dhangar community and also requested the government not to touch the OBC quota,” he said.
“Pouring turmeric powder (locally known as bhandara) is a soft form of protest. We have been demanding reservation for a very long time now. Devendra-ji Fadnavis had assured us that we will get the reservation as soon as they (BJP) come to power. But we haven’t got anything,” he added.
“Now you are going to take out the records of Marathas from the Nizam era and give them reservation. We don’t have any issues with that. But during the Nizam era, the Dhangar community had ST reservation. The government should take that record too,” Bangale said.
“If you are going to give reservation to Marathas, why are you not giving it to the Dhangars as well? This is a double standard and hence the outrage,” said Prakash Shendge, a leader of the community.
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