MES, other Marathi organisations demand reservation in education and government jobs
Scores of Marathi linguistic community members from all over the district and in small numbers from the adjoining towns and cities across the State boundary swarmed Belagavi to participate in the Maratha Kranti Mook Morcha (Maratha Revolution Silent March) organised by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) and several other Maratha/Marathi organisations to demand reservation in education and government jobs on Thursday.
The march took off from the Shivaji Garden in Shahpur around noon and the end point is Dharmveer Sambhaji Chowk. A delegation of five school girls will be submitting a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in support of their demands - reservation in education and government jobs, punishment to culprits in Kopardi rape and murder case, and amendment to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, to stop its misuse.
Diluted form
Since the march is being organised in Belagavi city, which has been a bone of contention in the more-than-six-decades-long boundary dispute, the MES has incorporated the issue but in a diluted form after advice by Police Commissioner T.G. Krishna Bhat. It wants an early and peaceful solution to the dispute. However, this demand did not reflect in any of such rallies held in Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka during the last few couple of months.
The police has made sufficient bandobast arrangements and is keeping strict vigil on mischievous elements. A large number of armed and civil forces, including 12 platoons of KSRP, have been deployed to ensure that law and order, peace and linguistic harmony in the city were not threatened during the march.
Khade Bazaar police has already registered cases against 10 senior MES and Shiv Sena leaders under the provisions of Section 108 (Security for good behaviour from persons disseminating seditious matters) and also obtained bonds of Rs.5 lakh each under Section 109 (Security for good behaviour from suspected persons) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), 1973 from Manohar Kinekar, ex-MLA, Deepak Dalvi, former Mayor, Malojirao Ashtekar, Prakash Appaji Margale, Rajendra Mutgekar, Gunvanth Patil, former Deputy Mayor Netaji Jadhav, Sunil Yallappa Jadhav, Prakash Patil and former councillor and Shiv Sena leader Prakash Shirolkar.
Meanwhile, displaying brotherhood, a section of Muslim community members put-up a make-shift stall and distributed free bananas and drinking water on Dr.B.R. Ambedkar Road (in front of Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences) to Marathas arriving here to participate in the march. However, the district unit of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has denied reports of its support to the march that appeared in a section of the media. The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, being a religious and social organisation, has not issued any statement to the press declaring its support to the march, said Riyaz Ahmed Auti and Yasin Makandar, President and District Organiser of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Belagavi, respectively.
Mayor of Belagavi City Corporation Sarita Viraj Patil and Sambhaji L. Patil, MLA (Belagavi South), flagged off the silent march.
