A clash erupted between police and Maratha community protestors in Jalna on Friday; the police resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the crowd. Raj Thackeray is en route to the protest site
Raj Thackeray/ File Photo
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray left for Jalna on Monday to meet the protestors demonstrating for the Maratha reservation. The ‘Rasta Roko’ movement began in multiple places and Thackeray has been stopping and meeting the people, the ANI report stated. In his statement on Saturday, Thackeray blamed the Maharashtra government for the clash between protestors and the police on September 1 in Jalna.
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Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, concurrently, speaking on the lathi charge on protestors over the Maratha reservation said the government played games with the community. If their intentions were not dubious, the Maratha community—by making a law in the Parliament—could have been granted reservation.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly also raised the question that 18 ministers of the incumbent Mahayuti government were part of the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government as well and they did not do anything during their previous tenure. He questioned why the ministers did not put forth a condition that they would join the new government only if the Maratha community was given reservation.
Wadettiwar, according to the ANI report, said that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar should take a concrete role; they should tell the Union government that if a law is not made in effect to grant the Maratha community reservation, they shall resign. He added that they, however, will never say this because they are “infatuated with the chair” insinuating that they are power mongers.
Wadettiwar added that the legal fight for the Maratha reservation was over and that the weight of the issue was on political will now. “The way a law was brought in the parliament for 10 per cent reservation for Economically Weak Sections (EWS), the same provision should be done for Maratha Reservation as well,” the Congress leader said.
The Maharashtra Cabinet sub-committee on Maratha Reservation had called a meeting today at 12 pm, according to a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office and both CM Shinde and Deputy CM were to attend the meeting. Earlier on Saturday, the CM had said that the state government was committed to providing reservations to the Maratha community.
What happened in Jalna?
A group from the Maratha community had been protesting in Jalna on Friday demanding reservations for the Marathas. A clash broke out between the police and protestors and the former resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the protestors. Many political leaders and observers said that the use of force against protestors by the administration was wrong and condemned it.
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