Rohit Pawar suspends Yuva Sangharsh Yatra in support of Maratha quota
Rohit’s march from Pune to Nagpur came amidst call by Maratha reservation protestors of banning entry in their towns and villages
Nationalist Congress Party legislator (Sharad Pawar faction) Rohit Pawar on Friday suspended his ongoing Yuva Sangharsh Yatra citing his support for the demand of Maratha reservation.
Rohit’s march from Pune to Nagpur came amidst call by Maratha reservation protestors of banning entry in their towns and villages.
Earlier this week, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil restarted his fast-unto-death in Antarwali Saraati village of Jalna demanding reservation for Maratha community. In support of Jarange and demand for quota, members of Maratha community are turning back political leaders from entering villages.
Speaking at a press meet at Shirur taluka on Friday, Pawar said that he has suspended the yatra that began from Pune on October 24 to support the Maratha reservation demand.
Pawar said, “Our yatra that started from October 24 has received good response. Quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil started his hunger strike on October 25. Office-bearers mainly from Beed, Jalna, Sambhajinagar and western Maharashtra urged us to suspend the yatra in support of the Maratha quota demand. We held a discussion on Thursday evening and took a decision to suspend the yatra from Friday.”
According to Pawar, when Patil started his hunger strike last time, chief minister Eknath Shinde met him and promised to take a decision in 30 days.
“The activist gave the state government 40 days, before restarting his fast,” Pawar said.
Pawar clarified that he is not stopping the Yuva Sangarsha Yatra as the Maratha organisations have decided to ban MLAs and MPs from entering villages, but to maintain peace in the state. Meanwhile, some Maratha organisations appealed to Rohit Pawar to suspend the yatra otherwise they would force to stop it.
“The yatra was to highlight the issues faced by the youth, including contract recruitment. We hoped that our 45-day yatra would wake up the state government to consider and meet our demands, but have suspended it to maintain peace and avoid tension,” he said.
At least 40,000 youth registered for the 45-day Yuva Sangharsh Yatra that started from Pune to Nagpur covering 830 villages of 28 tehsils in 10 districts.
