Maratha bandh turns violent, called off
A Maratha community member waves a flag with a portrait of Shivaji during a protest in Mumbai on Wednesday. Violent protests by Marathas broke out in Mumbai and its adjoining areas during a bandh on Wednesday over demands for reservation. The Mumbai bandh organisers, who had planned a peaceful protest, had to call it off around 2 pm after several violent incidents.
Breaking his silence on the statewide Maratha protests, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday announced that he is ready for discussions on reservation with community leaders. According to Mr Fadnavis, some political leaders are taking undue advantage of the situation.
The Union government and PMO are also taking stock of the situation. After intervention by BJP chief Amit Shah, CM Fadnavis toned down his earlier aggressive stance and invited pro- reservation organisations for talks. Though Mr Fadnavis did not apologise for the allegations levelled against Maratha organisations, revenue minister Chandrakant Patil has apologised for the same.
The stir on Maratha quota going on since a few days across the state is set to intensify in the future. To calm the raging protests, Mr Fadnavis has changed his aggressive stance and invited organisations for discussions. He added that the government wants reservation, but the matter is pending in court. He described all the steps taken by the government to reimburse fees, provide financial help to the youth for business amidst other things.
CM Fadnavis asked chief secretary D. K. Jain to remove all hurdles posed before implementation of the schemes for Marathas. He added that he is giving staying state recruitments a serious thought, but there might be repercussions. The Maratha youth want reservation in government jobs, so the state may keep 16 per cent seats vacant for the community.
However, now there is pressure on the government to give constitutional reservations in recruitment.