Maharashtra: Maratha agitation takes violent turn

Even as a ruling party MLArsquos residence and vehicles were set on fire by protesters on Monday Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil rejected Chief Minister Eknath Shindersquos offer to give Kunbi caste certificates to eligible members of the community from Marathwada which will enable them to avail of benefits for the other backward classes OBC Instead Jarange Patil said a partial quota was unacceptable and reiterated his demand that all Marathas in the state must be given such a certificate and told the CM that his fast unto death would continue and the agitation intensified if the demand was not met immediatelyManoj Jarange Patil left speaks to CM Eknath Shinde at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district in September PicPTIShinde addressed a media conference after a cabinet subcommittee for Maratha reservation met here on Monday The committee was briefed by the Justice retd Sandeep Shinde Commission which had been working on the modalities of the distribution of the Kunbi certificate The subcommittee accepted the preliminary report and discussed a way ahead to get the Maratha quota restored in the Supreme Court A panel of three retired high court judgesmdashDilip Bhosale MG Gayakwad and Sandeep Shindemdashwas appointed to assist the government in the curative petition hearing in the SC that had scrapped the Maratha quota pointing out certain deficiencies in the recommendation of the State Backward Class Commission SBCC Shinde said the SBCC was tasked with collecting empirical data to establish again the Marathasrsquo social and educational backwardnessCM seeks timeldquoThe government is worried about Jarange Patilrsquos health I request him to give us some more time I want to tell him that we have taken the protest very seriously and we will not stop before giving Marathas a legally permanent reservation without doing injustice to other communities read OBCs But we cannot do it hastily because the Maratha community will feel cheated if the quota gets scrapped again in the courtrdquo Shinde said adding that the distribution of Kunbi certificates to the eligible was expected to begin at the earliest He said the commission had been given an extension of two months to submit its final reportBut Jarange Patil did not relent ldquoWe will not accept a selective quota in this case for the Marathas in Marathwada We want it for all Marathas across the state The Cabinet should accept the Justice Shinde Commission report at its weekly meeting on Tuesday and announce it inclusion of Marathas in the OBC category If not I will continue my fast The third leg of our statewide agitation will be even more intense he said from Antarwali Sarati where he was on the seventh day of the second leg of his hunger strikelsquoWas PM told about demandrsquoAbout Shindes assurance to get the quota restored in a legal manner Jarange Patil said the agitation had no connection with a curative petition ldquoThe Maratha community respects the Supreme Court decision to scrap the independent quota The independent quota is possible only when the Centre intervenes I want to know whether the CM and DCMs briefed the PM about our demand The PM would certainly have said something about the Marathas at his Shirdi event public rally if he was told about it he said in reference to the provision of extending the quota cap beyond 50 per centMinutes before Jarange Patil responded Shinde had cautioned the Marathas against the elements that had led to violence in some places ldquoThe agitation has lost its direction The Marathas should know who is doing it and why its members have committed suicide The protesters have barred politicians from entering villages and towns But these are the leaders who support the quota This will lead to the loss of sympathy for the Maratha communityrdquo he said reminding the Marathas of the 58 peaceful marches taken out by them before 2018 In Beed former minister Jaidutt Kshirsagarrsquos office and the Nationalist Congress Party office were set on fire on Monday while BJP MLA Prashant Bambs office was vandalisedlsquoMLA said somethingrsquoJarange Patil dismissed the CMs observation He said the Marathas were incensed because of the Majalgaon MLA Prakash Solankersquos utterances and that anger might have led to the arson in which the NCP Ajit Pawar legislatorrsquos residence and luxury vehicles were burnt to ashes ldquoTo yedpat aahe he is crazy He Solanke must have said something He is a Maratha made big by his own community He shouldnt have said those wordsrdquo added Jarange Patil appealing to the community to show restraint The activist has also rejected the CMs offer to discuss the matter with Maratha representatives away from Antarwali SaratiBJP MLA Shinde Sena MPs tender resignationTo show solidarity with the Maratha quota protesters a BJP legislator from Gewrai in Beed district Laxman Pawar has sent his resignation to the Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar However according to people in the know his resignation letter now available on weblinks and social media will not be accepted because it has not been written in a specific format and he has given a reason for quitting which the rules forbid According to rules a member should personally hand over the letter to the Speaker And if the letter is received by post or through someone else the Speaker may verify if it is voluntary and genuine The resignation sent in due format and in tune with the rules is read out in the House When the House is not in session the Speaker shall inform the House immediately after the House reassembles says the ruleSimilarly several MLAs from the Maratha community had sent their resignations to support the agitation five years ago but they were not accepted This time around two Shinde Sena Lok Sabha MPs Hemant Patil and Hemant Godse from Nashik have sent in their resignations Sources said their resignation letters were not written in the official format It was not known whether they had sent the letters to the Lok Sabha Speaker or notOct 30Day cabinet subcommittee met