State government failed to strike truce with the Maratha reservation activists as the Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM) declined to wind up their agitation on Tuesday. They instead called upon the state government to release a timetable giving exact days and dates for providing 16 per cent quota in jobs and education for the Maratha community. The stand was also toughened against the backdrop of farmer Kakasaheb Shinde’s suicide.
The 28-year-old jumped off a bridge into the Godavari River while participating in the agitation.
“The time-table should include day and date of state cabinet which will give its nod for quota, timing of release of report of the Backward Class Commission and acceptance of its recommendations,” MKM coordinator Vinod Patil told DNA, “Besides, the government should reveal when it will start providing facilities to the community and implement the Commission’s report and issue an ordinance for the same.”
He reminded that MKM had taken out 58 peace marches so far and said every time the government only gave bland promises, arguing that the final decision rests with the courts.
Further, Patil said MKM wants the state government to stay the proposed mega recruitment of 70,000 in which 16 per cents posts are to be reserved for the Maratha community. “Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made the announcement in this regard last week,” Patil added, “Nearly 16 per cent posts will be filled up as backlog for the Maratha community after court decision on quota. So until a court decision arrives the decision, government need not show haste in launching the recruitment drive.”
MKM’s another coordinator Ravindra Patil said they will continue to press for an apology from Fadnavis for alleging that some members from the community were planning violence at Pandharpur town in Solapur district, where the chief minister was earlier scheduled to visit a temple on ‘Ashadhi Ekadashi’. Besides, he also took strong objection against state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil’s statement that paid intruders are trying to defame the agitation and thereby destabilize the state.
Meanwhile, all major political parties including Congress, Nationalist Congress Party have urged the state government to resolve the issue of Maratha reservations expeditiously. The agitation has also forced Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray to cut short his tour of Marathwada.
