Why Marathas are angry with politicians within the community?
Protesters in Maharashtra, India, are targeting Maratha politicians from across party lines, setting fire to their houses and offices. The anger is a result of a perceived lack of action by established Maratha leaders in addressing the needs of the community, particularly in terms of education and employment opportunities. The Maratha community has historically held significant political power in the state, but protesters argue that this has not translated into meaningful change for ordinary Maratha people. The demonstrations mark a departure from previous protests, which have often targeted non-Maratha politicians or the government.
The large-scale violence, including pelting stones and setting up houses of legislators on fire, during the Maratha reservation agitation has emphasised that unlike previous instances, protestors are angry this time against seasoned politicians belonging to the Maratha community across party lines.
On Monday, angry Maratha youth torched the office and house of Majalgaon MLA from Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) Prakash Solanke after pelting stones. The protestors by evening set on fire the house of another NCP MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar (Sharad Pawar faction) in Beed district, while also not sparing the party office and few other establishments.
Both Solanke and Kshirsagar are Maratha MLAs.
Police have beefed up security at residences of various Maratha community leaders, including Union minister Narayan Rane in Mumbai, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Baramati, state cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil in Kolhapur, and minister of state at the Centre Raosaheb Danve at Jalna.
Within Pune and other cities, additional security has been provided to Maratha MLAs and political leaders based on intelligence inputs that they may be targeted.
“We have increased security outside the houses and offices of political leaders belonging to the Maratha community,” Raja Ramaswami, deputy commissioner of police (special branch), said, adding that the preventive step has been taken based on intelligence inputs.
Earlier last week, protestors barred Ajit from entering his hometown Baramati and stopped Danve from visiting Jalna. NCP’s Sharad Pawar too faced wrath as youth hurled abuses at him during his visit to Antarwali Sarati in Jalna last month.
Protestors’ anger against leaders from their own community is in contrast to previous agitations when their ire was largely against non-Marathas politicians or the government.
According to Surendra Jondhale, political commentator and former professor of political science at Mumbai University, there has been a complete disconnect between Maratha leadership and the masses within the community.
“For these protestors, the feeling that established Maratha leaders have not done anything for their own community during the past many years is palpable,” said Jondhale.
“Though the Maratha politicians built educational and other institutes, the youth from the community could not study there or did not get jobs. In politics too, fresh faces did not have much chance as experienced leaders promoted dynasty. So, the Maratha youth from rural parts have no job, education and political space,” said Jondhale, explaining the reason behind members within the community venting out anger against the Maratha leadership.
The Maratha community has over the decades retained its clout in state politics, keeping its share intact in power. If Maharashtra has had more than 60 per cent chief ministers from Marathas, the community has a fair representation in the cabinet or state assembly. Over the years, its politics is shaped with Hindutva and caste at the core. From Yashwantrao Chavan and Vasantdada Patil to Sharad Pawar, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Eknath Shinde, the state has had 12 Maratha chief ministers with some serving multiple terms.
“Maharashtra has had several chief ministers from Marathas while at no point the community’s share of MLAs went down beyond 50%. Yet, these politicians failed to offer reservation despite the demand in place since the 1990s,” said Chitra Lele, a political science professor.
According to Kumar Saptarshi, former MLA and political observer, as Maratha youth have realised that they have been cheated by their own leaders, the masses are rejecting leadership with agitation.
“This is the conflict between poor and rich Marathas. Although Marathas are ruling the state for last many decades, ground reality is different. The power has remained with influential Marathas and those in agriculture are facing a lot of issues. In fact, in rural parts, Marathas are worse off than the Dalits. This has led to violence,” said Saptarshi, explaining the economic situation of the community.
On the economic front, Marathas are a stratified community with lowest at the hierarchy either landless or marginal farmers and mostly from the Marathwada region, the ground zero of ongoing agitation.
Manoj Jarange Patil, who has emerged as a prominent face of Maratha agitation, represents the non-establishment class within the community and is enjoying support from youth with no social or political background.
It is for this section that many political parties have sought reservation, citing they account for majority of the community. The Gaikwad Commission constituted by the then Devendra Fadnavis government in its report had highlighted that a large section of Marathas is economically and educationally backward. The Supreme Court, however, found no merit in exceeding the existing 50 per cent ceiling of quota, which could have accommodated the Marathas.
