Maratha quota violence: Supriya Sule blames Maharashtra govt, Home Ministry

Supriya Sule/ File Photo

Nationalist Congress Party working president Supriya Sule, on Friday, said that the Maharashtra government and Home Ministry are to be blamed for the recent bout of Maratha quota violence and the unrest across the state, stated a report by news agency ANI.

Sule was quoted in the report as saying, "The Maharashtra government and the home minister are responsible for the violence. The way things turned out in the state was a failure of the entire Home Ministry and the Home Minister himself."

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She further criticised the BJP government and accused them of making false promises, including those of reservation for various communities. "The BJP government does 'jumlebaazi' (fake promises) and the prime example of this can be seen in BJP's fake claims of reservation to the Maratha community, the Dhangar community, the Lingayat community, and the Muslim community," she told ANI.

In September, clashes erupted between police and protesters in Jalna, Maharashtra, during a demonstration demanding Maratha Reservation. The police resorted to lathi charges to disperse the protesters, leading to backlash and apologies from Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

According to the report, Supriya Sule also discussed the matter of MLA disqualification in Maharashtra; she opined that even the Supreme Court was disappointed with the Speaker's behaviour. She said that she had no hopes from the Speaker but expressed optimism about the top court's role in ensuring justice.

She said, "This nation runs on the constitution, and if the speaker views the matter from the point of view of the constitution, then we will surely get justice."

The Shiv Sena's internal division and legal challenges related to its name and symbol were mentioned, as well as the faction's request for disqualification proceedings against MLAs who aligned with the BJP.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde, who was then a minister in Uddhav Thackeray's cabinet, splintered a coup within the ranks of the party and split in June last year. He then formed an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata party and secured the post of CM for himself. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray-led faction sought disqualification proceedings against the MLAs who joined hands with BJP following Shinde's lead. They had also moved to SC challenging the Election Commission's move to allot the party name and symbol to Shinde.

Regarding recent ED and CBI raids across the country, Supriya Sule referred to the BJP government as an "ICE government" (Income Tax Department, CBI, and ED), suggesting that those against the government are targeted, but once they align with the BJP, they are deemed innocent. "Everyone who is against this government is targeted by ICE and once they side with them (BJP), then they are proven to be innocent," said Sule.

With ANI inputs