Govt commits...

To disperse the mob, the police resorted to a lathicharge. In the ensuing face-off, eight policemen sustained injuries, 20 vehicles were torched. Violence initially broke out when members of the Sakal Maratha Samaj held a protest march on Monday morning in the industrial town of Chakan. “A few youngsters suddenly started throwing stones, despite an appeal by the police to maintain peace,” said Sandeep Pakhale, the additional superintendent of police. The Pune-nashik highway, near Khed, was also blocked by protestors for more than four hours, even as leaders from the Maratha outfits asked the community members not to indulge in violence.

Both Solapur and Nandurbar districts were shut down on Monday, following a call from local units of the Maratha Kranti Morcha. In Solapur, protestors attacked police cars with stones — including that of an assistant police commissioner, Poornima Chaugule; in Pandharpur, protestors damaged state transport buses. In Nandurbar in North Maharashtra, the bandh was successful as it got support from locals. The state transport bus service, the only public transport system in the district, was affected. “Protestors attacked three police vehicles. We have detained 171 people and the situation is under control,” said Mahadev Tambade, the commissioner of police, Solapur.

The suicide in Aurangabad led to further unrest in the area, with local youth blocking roads for a few hours at Mukundwadi, where Hore-patil lived. Horepatil, had been was untraceable since Sunday afternoon. In the evening, some of his friends saw two of his Facebook posts in which he allegedly expressed his intention of committing suicide. In the first post shared on his profile at 2.32pm, Hore-patil wrote, “Today, a Maratha is going, but do something for the reservation, Jay Jijau, Yours Pramod Patil.”

In another post, shared at 4.50pm, he took a selfie on a railway track and captioned it — “Maratha reservation will take a life.” Both posts were shared by local Maratha leaders, but his Facebook profile currently has no such posts. He is survived by his wife and two sons. Local Maratha leaders submitted a memorandum to the district collector, Uday Chaudhari, demanding compensation and other benefits declared by the state in the earlier suicide cases. Gyanoba Banapure, the sub-divisional officer, Aurangabad district, said the police were investigating the suicide case. “We are not sure if the suicide is related to the Maratha reservation,” Banapure said. Through Monday, Maratha leaders appealed to the community to avoid violence but said the agitation would continue until their demands were met.in a press conference, Vinod Patil, a Maratha leader, who is also a petitioner in the Bombay High Court for reservation, said, “We have also posed seven questions before the state. But, basically, we want the government to disclose dates for when the report of the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission will be submitted. We also want a special session of the state legislature to discuss the demand, and for the mega recruitment drive to be stayed.’’ On the sidelines of the agitation, all main political parties, barring the ruling BJP, held meetings with legislators to deliberate on the ongoing protests. All the three parties, the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena, in a bid to showcase their support to the community, took a stance of political tokenism. Both Congress and NCP leaders met the governor separately, after their party meetings, to seek his intervention. They also met the chairman of the Backward Class Commission, M G Gaikwad, to seek an early report but were informed that it would take another three months. Congress further voted in favour of mass resignations by their legislators. On Monday, Congress MLA Abdul Sattar, also a legislator from Central Maharashtra, sent his resignation to the legislature secretariat.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, after a meeting, said the government should announce reservation on economic grounds without waiting for the backward class commission report. In the face of complaints from Maratha groups about implementation of two decisions taken by his government last year, Fadnavis held a meeting with educational institutes and state bankers and reviewed disbursal of various loan schemes to entrepreneurs from the community.