Cranking up the pressure on the Uddhav Thackeray-led ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ government, Maratha outfits on Wednesday issued an ultimatum warning of a Maharashtra shutdown on October 10 if the government failed to satisfactorily explain how they planned to extend the benefits meant for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) to the community.
In a marathon meeting on Tuesday, the State Cabinet, scrambling to pacify the restive community, had decided to extend the 10% reservation meant for the EWS to it.
However, a “round-table conference” of the outfits under the umbrella of “Maratha Arakshan [reservation] Action Samiti” (MAAS) held on Wednesday in Kolhapur, dissatisfied with the government’s hurriedly framed assurances, exhorted Mr. Thackeray and his Cabinet to clarify how exactly it planned to implement what it had announced.
“This time, we want to make sure that the government keeps its promises. We are giving them time till October 9 to elucidate just how it plans to implement the benefits. Failing this, we will stage a complete shutdown in Maharashtra on October 10. The bandh , if held, will be peaceful in nature with all emergency services on,” said Suresh Patil, who heads the MAAS.
The protests would not cease until the Maratha quota law was upheld in the Supreme Court, Mr. Patil said adding that the MAAS would submit a list of 15 demands to the Chief Minister and other senior Cabinet members.
These include fee waiver for the community students, an immediate stop to the mega-recruitment drive to fill vacant police posts until the issue was resolved in the SC, increased funding to the tune of ₹1,000 crore to rejuvenate the moribund Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Research Training and Human Development Institute or SARTHI, and withdrawing police cases lodged against the community protesters.
Despite the State government’s attempts to soothe the frayed tempers of the community leaders, the Maratha Kranti Morcha — another vital umbrella outfit spearheading the quota agitation — has alleged that the phones of important leaders of the agitation are being tapped by the authorities
Rajendra Kondhare, convenor, Maratha Kranti Morcha, said: “Perhaps the police authorities do such things as a matter of course, but the community leaders have sensed that their phones are being tapped by the administration of both the erstwhile BJP and the MVA governments. If this has indeed been happening, we urge the Home department to look into it and put a stop to it.”
Mr. Kondhare warned that if this practice continued, then the agitation would be even more intense than that of the Patel or the Gujjar communities in the coming days.
He also urged the OBC community to join in the fight to ensure that the Maratha community members got their due rights.
“The OBCs must take two steps forward. We must look for alternatives beyond political compromises,” he said.
On September 27, the Maratha Kranti Morcha has called for an “Aakrosh Morcha” (anger demonstration) in Pune to express their ire against all political parties and leaders in the district.
“We will be surrounding offices of all major political parties including the Congress, the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the BJP while demonstrating outside the homes of all legislators and MPs of Pune, who have failed to fight for the rights of the community while using us as vote banks,” said a Maratha Kranti Morcha representative.
The community activists continued protests across the State blocking roads and staging demonstrations in Sangli, Ahmednagar and Parbhani districts.
