Demand for quota: Maratha youth jumps to death during protest

“As the deceased youth is from Aurangabad, there will be complete bandh in Aurangabad on Tuesday. In the rest of the state, we will observe a bandh on Wednesday,” said Virendra Pawar, convener of Maratha Kranti Morcha.

A group of Marathas from Gangapur taluka had warned the local administration they would take ‘Jal Samadhi’ (drowning) at 3 pm in the river to protest on Monday. Their contention is that the government has ignored their 31 demands, including reservation for Marathas.

Convenors of the Marathi Kranti Morcha have blamed the death of the youth on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s remarks on Sunday, and called for his resignation. “Fadnavis had said that some of our people might release snakes among devotees in Pandharpur and might pelt stones. This remark has triggered the violence on Monday. We have held 58 silent morchas in the past and have never resorted to such tactics. The insulting remarks have angered the community,” said Pawar.

He added that a murder case should be filed against the local administration and Fadnavis. “Despite several meetings, many of the promises given to our community remain unfulfilled,” Pawar said.

Fadnavis on Monday skipped the annual puja at the Lord Vitthal Temple in Pandharpur town due to threats of protest by Marathas and instead performed rituals at his home in Mumbai.

A group of Marathas, including local leaders from different outfits, staged a protest at Kaygaon around 10.30 am on Monday. Around 3 pm, they marched towards the bridge across the Godavari river flowing through Kaygaon. Police personnel deployed at the spot tried to stop the agitators, but Shinde jumped into the river and drowned.

Local residents fished out his body from the river and it was sent to the civil hospital in Gangapur for a postmortem examination.

Meanwhile, the information about the death spread through social media and other channels, causing unrest. The situation became tense as hundreds of agitators gheraoed the Gangapur police station. The brother of the deceased, Avinash Shinde, demanded that police should lodge an offence of murder.

Senior police officers, including District Superintendent of Police Aarti Singh, rushed to Gangapur and appealed to the agitators to maintain peace. Sub-Divisional officer Sandipan Sanap also tried to interact with the agitators.

Police were also deployed at important locations in Aurangabad city and rural areas to prevent any untoward incident. Traffic at some spots on the Ahmednagar-Aurangabad road was stopped as a preventive measure.

Meanwhile, severe agitations by community members were seen at certain locations in Beed, Parbhani, Nanded and Hingoli districts. Stone pelting took place at several spots, leading to state transport buses being damaged and torched by agitators.

According to the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, 60 buses were damaged. “Six of our buses have been torched. Agitators pelted stones on the buses and broke glass ceilings. We have suspended movement of buses from Barshi and Solapur and between Aurangabad and Ahmednagar districts,” said an official.