Maratha quota protest in Jalna: Oppn steps up heat on govt, blames Fadnavis for lathicharge

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray also attacked the government over the police lathicharge.

“Every minister is briefed daily about the happenings in the state. The Home Minister does get all the briefing and information. Did this one full and two half government (one CM and two deputy CMs) not know about the agitation? I refuse to believe that the same police who sensitively handled worst of crisis like Covid-19 can be this brutal. There must be someone who is behind this. Police cannot do this without orders,” said Thackeray.

He was speaking at a party workers’ programme in Mumbai. After addressing the workers, Thackeray left for Jalna on Saturday afternoon to meet the protesters who were injured in the police lathicharge. “The government of one full and two halves has no time to look after the people of this state. These people have time to speak against us and INDIA front but no time to meet protesters,” he said.

Thackeray claimed that the state government wanted to hold ‘Shasan Aplya Dari’ (government at your doorstep) programme in Jalna for which they wanted the protesters to call off their agitation. “Protesters wanted a person of authority to come and meet them. But they were lathicharged. Police went inside the houses of people and beat them,” he said.

Around 20 protesters were injured in the clash at Antarwali Sarathi village in Ambad tehsil on Friday night. The police claimed as many as 37 police personnel were injured, including an additional SP, as the protesters pelted stones and torched four police vehicles.

Over the last few days, at Antarwali Sarathi village, hundreds of protesters, led by Manoj Jarange Patil, a local Maratha leader, who is sitting on a hunger strike, are demanding reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs. The police resorted to lathicharge after the protesters refused to allow them to shift Patil.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday reiterated that a thorough probe would be held into the incident and anyone found guilty won’t be spared.

Earlier in the day, Sharad Pawar too met the injured protesters. He was joined by NCP state president Jayant Patil and local party leader and former minister Rajesh Tope.

“The kind of force used was unprecedented. Children, women and elderly people were also not spared. The injured protesters told us that a discussion was in progress when suddenly a large police force arrived and resorted to lathicharge. The injured told us that bullets were also fired,” said Pawar, addressing a press conference at Jalna.

He added that the agitators told him that the police had received “special instructions” after which the lathicharge took place. “People believe that at a time when the INDIA bloc was holding its meeting, the lathicharge was ordered to divert attention from the Opposition alliance meet. But I have no concrete information on this,” he said, adding that he is not demanding resignation of the state Home minister but merely stating that there are previous examples when ministers resigned accepting moral responsibility for such incidents.

He also met Patil, who was on hunger strike, and advised him to ensure peace prevailed so that people continue to support the demand for reservation.

“We believe keeping the existing reservation intact, it is possible to give reservation to Marathas and it should be done at the earliest,” said Pawar.

Opposition Congress too claimed that the police cannot lathicharge people unless ordered by the government. “It was Devendra Fadnavis who had claimed to give reservation to Marathas and Dhangars. But none of the promises have been fulfilled. The Centre is not ready to conduct caste census,” said Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole.