Indicating that unrest in the dominant Marathas over quotas may be boiling over, a youth committed suicide by jumping into the Godavari river at Gangapur in Aurangabad on Mond ay.
Kakasaheb Dattatray Shinde (28), who was part of an agitation seeking reservations at Kaygaon Toka in Gangapur, died after jumping into the river during a jal samadhi agitation.
Subsequently, protestors blocked the Pune- Aurangabad highway. Incidents of stone pelting on buses were reported from the Marathwada region, where the agitation has been re-launched by the community.
Santosh Mane, district chief of the Yuva Sena, who was part of the protest, said despite being intimated, the district administration had failed to deploy boats and lifeguards. “If this was done, Shinde would have been alive,” added Mane.
Shinde, a resident of Kanadgaon in Gangapur, was Mane’s driver and a Shiv Sena activist.
Protestors, including Shinde’s brother Avinash, refused to take the possession of his body kept at the Gangapur sub-district hospital and demanded that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis resign and the police book him for forcing the deceased to take the extreme step. Agitators protesting outside the Gangapur police station also sought compensation for his family.
Sunil Birla, police inspector, Gangapur, said senior officials including superintendent of police Dr Arti Singh were at the spot, and the protestors were being persuaded to take possession of Shinde’s body.
Fadnavis had to cancel his Monday visit to Pandharpur for the puja of Lord Vitthal on Ashadi Ekadashi after Maratha groups threatened a protest. He claimed intelligence inputs that some elements were likely to perform acts of sabotage that could even claim lives.
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In 2016, Marathas organized silent ‘Maratha Kranti Morchas’ with demands like quotas and preventing misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The protests, albeit with an aggressive tone, were relaunched from Tuljapur this month. It saw buses being stoned in Solapur and agitations at locations in Marathwada including Parli in Beed.
Though Marathas were given 16% reservations in jobs and employment, the case is sub-judice and the backward classes commission is examining its legal validity. Protestors are demanding that the state government’s mega recruitment to 72,000 posts be scrapped till the courts decide on the validity of the quotas and welfare schemes like scholarships announced for the community be implemented.
NCP state unit president Jayant Patil said the state government had not approved the quota demands of communities like Maratha, Dhangars, Lingayats and Muslims, which coupled with statements by some BJP leaders against reservations had led to social unrest.
The Maratha- Kunbi caste cluster is estimated at around 31.5% of Maharashtra's population. Kunbis, who have significant numbers in Konkan and Vidarbha, are already covered under the OBC category.
