For 5th day, stray incidents continue to mar Maratha quota agitation

Mumbai: Stray incidents of violence continued in different parts of Maharashtra for the fifth day on Thursday as Maratha activists protested for reservations to the community.

The Mumbai-Goa highway was blocked in Raigad for a brief period but created huge traffic snarls in both directions even as police came and removed the protestors.

Scores of women in Kaudgaon village of Osmanabad smashed their glass bangles in support of quotas, raised slogans, and then marched to the local police with minor boys and girls in tow for a ‘jail-bharo’ agitation.

In Tuljapur town of the same district, two youths climbed atop a mobile communication tower and threatened to jump down if the Maratha quotas were not granted on a priority basis as villagers and police urged them to come down.

The Thane-Ahmednagar highway was blocked by angry activists of the Sakal Maratha Samaj for sometime before police came and cleared the traffic.

Some activists smeared black paint on posters of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis in Bhiwandi town of Thane, raised slogans, and left the spot.

The homes of a legislator in Akola was surrounded by hundreds of activists raising slogans of ‘Ek Maratha, Lakh Maratha’ and demanded reservations without delay.

In Beed, a large group of activists offered special poojas and performed ‘abhishek’ at a temple seeking early announcement of Maratha quotas. The health of at least one Maratha youth turned critical on a relay hunger strike for the five days along with members of different political parties, and a medical team rushed to examine him.

The ban on all politicians continued in more than 4,000 villages and some talukas across the state compelling several leaders to cancel or defer their engagements as the Maratha quotas stir raged.

Meanwhile, the Shivba Sanghatana chief Manoj Jarange-Patil’s indefinite hunger strike completed nine days on Thursday, and a delegation of ministers and two retired judges called on him in Jalna’s Antarvali-Sarati village to hold discussions, explain the government’s stand, the legal position on quotas and related issues to ensure the Maratha reservation.