Maratha stir is knocking on Mumbai, Thane door

The Maratha quota stir, which has turned violent elsewhere in the State, is gravitating towards Mumbai. The Sakal Maratha Samaj has called for a 'bandh' today in the city, in Thane, Navi Mumbai, Raigad and Palghar.

The quota protest snowballed after the death of a protestor on Monday: Twenty-seven-year-old Kakasaheb Shinde had jumped off a bridge over Godavari in Aurangabad. In fact, another protestor, 31-year-old Jagannath Sonawane from Aurangabad, sought to emulate Shinde’s example on Tuesday by jumping onto a dry river bed. He has been hospitalised.

Quotas for Marathas, a politically influential community that constitutes around 30% of the state’s population, has been a contentious issue. Though the Maratha Samaj has decided to organise only silent ‘morchas’, Mumbai would probably experience a partial shutdown.

Thankfully, schools, colleges, ambulances and hospitals are exempted from the bandh. Maharashtra Minister Vinod Tawde said they will be assessing the law and order situation on Wednesday and then taking a call on whether schools and colleges will remain open.

The Maratha Samaj has promised that tempos carrying vegetables and tankers carrying milk will not be stopped.

There will be no squatting on the railway tracks or disruption of public transport, it is claimed.

Nonetheless, there will be fewer taxis on the road and attendance in offices is sure to dip. The assurances of the organisers notwithstanding, elsewhere in the state, the protestors have targeted public property such as buses and trains.

The ongoing protest is already having a major impact in western Maharashtra and Marathwada, especially in Aurangabad, Osmanabad, Beed and Ahmadnagar.

Deepak Devraj, Deputy Commissioner of Police and

Mumbai police spokesperson said, “Heavy bandobast has been made for the bandh. We have instructed our vigilance teams to keep a watch in sensitive pockets. We have also asked the protestors to hold a peaceful protest. The State Reserve Police Force, the Rapid Action Force, the Quick Response Teams, local armed police, zonal police and the Mumbai traffic police will be monitoring the situation. The police will also be keeping a vigil through CCTV cameras. Drones may be deployed, if need be.’’ Subodh Jaiswal, the Mumbai Police Commissioner, had convened a meeting of senior officers for the bandobast arrangements.

The government is trying to look for an escape route out of the quota logjam. It has a few options and can, at best, issue an ordinance and then leave the matter to the wisdom of the courts. The problem is not as much with providing 16 percent job quota for the Maratha community but to get the proposal past the judiciary, as the reservation pie has been fully carved out. Shiv Sena's MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil from Shirur constituency in Pune district claimed they have extended support to the bandh. However, Subhash Desai, a senior minister of the Shiv Sena, said nobody from the Maratha Sakal Samaj had approached Uddhav Thackeray in the matter.

Meanwhile, All India Motor Transport Congress in on nationwide strike and it will be the fifth day of strike on Wednesday.