This is an archive article published on July 25, 2018
Morcha serves ultimatum to CM: Hold talks or face fiery agitation
On Monday, 28-year-old Kakasaheb Dattatraya Shinde had died after he jumped into the Godavari river from a bridge at Kaygaon Toka village in Aurangabad during the ‘Jal Samadhi’ agitation conducted by a group of local Marathas.
Maratha leaders said they have been hurt by the “nasty comments” made by the CM.
AFTER the bandh call evoked mixed to poor response in parts of the state on Tuesday, the Maratha Kranti Morcha, which is leading the Maratha agitation for quota in jobs and educational institutions, gave Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis an ultimatum to sit for talks within two days or face more virulent form of protest.
On Monday, 28-year-old Kakasaheb Dattatraya Shinde had died after he jumped into the Godavari river from a bridge at Kaygaon Toka village in Aurangabad during the ‘Jal Samadhi’ agitation conducted by a group of local Marathas. Following this, the Morcha had called for a bandh in Kolhapur, Sholapur, Marathwada and Pune on Tuesday and in Konkan, Raigad and Mumbai along with its adjoining areas on Wednesday.
Welcoming the offer for talks, the government said it was ready to hold discussions, “which is the only way to resolve issues raised by the community”. The demand for talks was raised by the Sambhaji Brigade, the aggressive face of the Morcha, in Pune on Tuesday. Two days ago, the Brigade had threatened to stop the CM from performing puja at Vitthal-Rukmani temple in Pandharpur on June 23. The CM had eventually dropped the plan to visit Pandharpur.
Story continues below this ad
Manoj Aakhare, regional president of Sambhaji Brigade, said Fadnavis should come face-to-face with them to discuss the demands of the community. “In the next two days, the CM should invite representatives of various Maratha organisations as well as people’s representatives for a discussion.”
If Fadnavis fails to do so, Aakhare said, the Maratha organisations would be left with no option but to gherao MLAs, MPs and ministers. “The CM, too, will not be spared. They should then not blame us… we will launch an intensified agitation,” he added.
A rally by supporters of Maratha Kranti Morcha in Pune on Tuesday. (Photo: Arul Horizon)
Supporting the demand for a discussion, Purushottam Khedekar, a key leader of the Morcha who heads Maratha Seva Sangh, said,”We want to know why is the government delaying the decision to accord OBC status to the Maratha community? We want to understand the government’s problems. Fadnavis should tell us about the impediments faced by his government and also whether it is possible for his government to meet our demands. He has kept us waiting for too long. Our patience is running thin.”
Story continues below this ad
Khedekar added that the CM refuses to take an initiative and takes refuge behind his ministers. “When we held 58 silent marches, he had no time to meet us. He kept sending his ministers who were clueless. This time, we will not meet anybody but the chief minister. If he is honest about meeting our demands, he should met us face to face.”
Welcoming the offer for talks, Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said: “We have always been saying that there was a need to discuss the demands raised by the Maratha community. Now that they have come forward for discussion, we are more than willing to discuss the issues and find a solution.”
He added that the Morcha should name their representatives and the government would invite them all for discussion. “The government is committed to meet the demands of the Maratha community,” said Patil.
Earlier in the day, Patil drew flak from the Maratha leaders after he reportedly said in Kolhapur that “certain paid elements” were part of the agitation. Patil, however, said he was quoted out of context. “What I meant to say is that certain outside elements would infiltrate into the agitation and try to defame the Maratha Kranti Morcha.”
Meanwhile, the Maratha leaders said they have been hurt by the “nasty comments” made by the CM regarding letting off snakes among the devotees in Pandharpur. “The kind of loose talk the CM makes has further angered the community. The CM should apologise for such intemperate remarks,” said Santosh Shinde, Pune president of Sambhaji Brigade. On Sunday, Fadnavis had said that the government had received intelligence reports about snakes being let off among “warkaris” to create trouble in Pandharpur.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
4 min read
Maratha leaders said they have been hurt by the “nasty comments” made by the CM.
A rally by supporters of Maratha Kranti Morcha in Pune on Tuesday. (Photo: Arul Horizon)
