Maratha...

On Tuesday, one protestor in Beed district, Abhijit Deshmukh, 35, hanged himself and left suicide note in which he said debt and the delay in granting reservation to Marathas had led him to take this extreme step. Deshmukh is the fifth person to commit suicide in solidarity with the Maratha protests since July 23.

“What is going on in the state today is deeply disturbing,” Fadnavis said of the ongoing agitation. “If we look at reservations only from an emotive angle, then we will succeed only in fanning anger in the community. But, if we have to ensure reservation to the community, then we must understand its legal aspects. Our stance is that reservation must sustain and be legally sound,” he said.

According to a 1992 Supreme Court order, if reservation quota are to be hiked over 50% per cent, “extraordinary circumstances and evidence of social backwardness” of the community must be shown by appointing a backward class commission. Fadnavis said his government had set up a backward class commission to get this evidence and to ensure reservation was granted to the community.

Previously, in 2014, the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress government had granted the Maratha community 16% reservation, but this was struck by Bombay high court (HC) and no relief was granted by the Supreme Court. The matter is now with the HC, which is waiting for the Backward Class Commission’s submission.

Maharashtra currently has 52% per cent reservation for various categories including other backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in education and government jobs. Fadnavis made it clear that any reservation to the Maratha community would not impact the existing quota, but a separate law would be enacted in a special session of the state legislature after the commission submits its report. Maratha groups allege the process has been delayed.

The Marathas represents 32% of the population and have been socially and politically dominant in Maharashtra. As many as 10 out of 16 chief ministers of the state were Marathas. However, a section of the community is made up of peasants, who have been victims of the ongoing agrarian crisis in Maharashtra.

On Tuesday, Maratha outfits announced statewide sit-in agitations at prominent places in all districts and outside residences of lawmakers from Wednesday. “Community members will meet their respective legislators and members of Parliament with the memorandum related to our demands with request to raise the issues in their respective houses. They will stage sit-in for couple of hours outside the houses of the lawmakers. The sit-in outside the houses of the lawmakers will go on for eight days,” said Shantaram Kunjir, one of the coordinators of Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM), the