The Maratha Kranti Morcha on Friday staged simultaneous protests outside 13 tehsildar offices in Raigad district, demanding steps by the State government to vacate the Supreme Court’s stay order on Maratha reservation. The group called for a freeze on government recruitment drives till the community gets justice.
The protests were held outside tehsildar offices in Panvel, Karjat, Uran, Mhasla, Khalapur, Alibaug, Roha, Shrivardhan, Mahad, Poladpur, Tala, Mangaon and Pen in the district.
Vinod Sabale, Raigad coordinator of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, said, “In many high-profile cases, when the Supreme Court refers a case to a larger Constitution Bench, it is transferred without any stay. In our case, the reservation got stayed. This is injustice. We had received justice after fighting for around 35 years. In 2018, we finally received 16% reservation, but the next year, it was reduced by around 4% by the High Court. Yet, we made a compromise.”
Mr. Sabale said the Chief Minister had assured the community that a solution would be found, but then the government announced the recruitment process to appoint 12,500 police personnel. He said, “Over this period, 42 youths have committed suicide in the fight for the reservation. It is not an easy struggle. We have requested the government to stall the recruitment process till we get justice.”
He said if the government does not take cognisance of their problems, then they will be forced to intensify their protests.
On September 9, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the 2018 law providing a quota to Marathas in jobs and education. The court has referred petitions challenging the law to a larger Constitution Bench.
