Maha acts against cops after Maratha quota stir violence

After a statewide uproar by the Maratha community over a baton charge on protesters in Jalna’s Anatarvali Sarti village on Friday, the state government on Sunday swung into action, shunting out senior police officers from the district and beginning a dialogue with protesters to restore reservations for them.

Holding superintendent of police Tushar Doshi responsible for the lathi charge, the Eknath Shinde government sent him on compulsory leave, while additional superintendent of police Rahul Khade and deputy superintendent of police Mukund Aghav were transferred out of the district. Indian Police Service officer Shailesh Balkawade, along with some others, has been appointed instead.

Chief minister Shinde, who was in Buldhana to attend the Shasan Aplya Dari(a government outreach programme), announced the action against the police officers.

“The superintendent of police Tushar Doshi responsible for the lathi charge has been sent on compulsory leave. We are ready to conduct even a judicial probe, as demanded by the opposition, if the need arises,” Shinde said. Sanjay Saxena, additional director general of police, law and order, has been asked to visit Jalna on Monday to conduct a probe.

Shinde said his government was “committed” to restoring quotas for Marathas, which he said would “remain forever”. “We are not going to rest till this is done,” he said. “We have begun the procedure. I don’t want to divulge too many details, but the community will get what it deserves.”

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was in Leh for an official function, placated protester Manoj Jarange-Patil, a Maratha leader, over the phone. Fadnavis told Jarange-Patil that cases wrongly registered would be withdrawn.

Jarange-Patil later said while he was “ready” for a dialogue, the protest would not be withdrawn until a government resolution was issued for the withdrawal of every single case.

The opposition, meanwhile, reiterated its demand that Fadnavis should resign, saying that he was behind the baton charge. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray said the police action could not have happened without orders from the chief minister or deputy chief minister.

“I have seen the CMO very closely during our government,” he said. “Such a brutal lathi charge cannot take place without apprising the CM or deputy CM. The question that arises here is: whose government it is? Is it a Khoke Sarkar or a Gen Dyer sarkar?” Khoke sarkar refers to the government formed by buying out MLAs. British army officer Reginald Dyer was responsible for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and Nationalist Congress Party NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) MLA Jitendra Awhad demanded Shinde’s resignation.

The chief minister hit back at the opposition. Alluding to NCP chief Sharad Pawar, he said, “Some people have done nothing in their entire life but are now reaching out to the protesters. But people have been showing them their place.” Shinde was referring to former chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Uddhav Thackeray’s visit to the protesters on Saturday, where, he claimed, they were ticked off.

Rural development minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan, who also met Jarange-Patil and other protesters, in an allusion to Pawar asked “big leaders” to introspect on why people sloganeered against them. “Why did they ask what you had done for Maratha welfare in 40 years?” he asked. “I cannot utter the words used for the leader by the people. Our government gave the Marathas reservation in 2018, but the subsequent MVA (Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi ) government could not safeguard it.”

Shinde also emphasised that the reservation given by the Fadnavis government in 2018 was quashed by the Supreme Court when the MVA government led by Thackeray was in power. “Ashok Chavan was the head of the committee appointed to take steps to restore the reservation. What did they do?” he questioned.

IPS officer Balkawade, after taking charge, said administrative and legal procedures related to the incident were underway. “I would like to say to all the stakeholders that police will act in a transparent way by keeping the common man’s interest in focus,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Maratha community continued its statewide protest on Sunday. In Mumbai, members of the community protested at Marine Drive and Dadar, while others held blocked roads on the Solapur-Pune national highway. A call for a general strike was given in Nashik and a few other districts.

“We will continue our agitation until Devendra Fadnavis resigns, accepting moral responsibility,” said Virendra Pawar, coordinator of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, a collective of the Marathas.

The community and outfits representing it have announced that they will continue the protest by keeping a few districts such as Sambhaji Nagar and Nanded shut and blocking some national highways.