Bandh turns violent, 4 activists attempt suicide

The fire ignited by the revived Maratha reservation agitation threatened to engulf entire Maharashtra on Tuesday, as four more activists attempted suicide, a policeman died of heart attack during a bandobast duty, protesters either damaged or torched a dozen vehicles and resorted to road blockades across the State  during a day-long bandh called by the agitating Marathas.

A day after 27-year-old youth Kakasaheb Dattareya Shinde jumped from a bridge into Godavari river near Aurangabad as part of a “Jal Samadhi” (watery grave) agitation undertaken to press for Maratha reservations, the bandh called by Maratha community members turned violent in several parts of the State, a development that put the Devendra Fadnavis Government on the defensive.

Tuesday’s bandh was restricted to areas outside the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). 

With the Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM) having called a similar shutdown in Mumbai, neighbouring Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts on Wednesday, the Maharashtra Government will have another trying day.      

Talking to media persons after MKM’s coordination committee meeting, its convenor for Mumbai Virendra Pawar said: “Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Palghar and Raigad will observe bandh tomorrow.  Tomorrow, schools and colleges will remain open. Milk distribution and essential services have been exempted from the bandh. I appeal agitators to take precautions to ensure against any untoward incident during tomorrow’s bandh”.

In a day of multiple developments, the deceased youth Shinde’s final rites were performed in his native Kaigaon Toka village near Aurangabad on Tuesday morning. His younger brother Avinash Shinde lit the funeral pyre. The Maharashtra Government announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the bereaved family and offered a job to Shinde’s younger brother.

A police constable Shyam Katgaonkar, who was on bandobast duty at Kaigaon Toka, died of a heart attack, while Shiv Sena’s MP Chandrakant Khaire and Congress MLC Subhash Zambad were manhandled when he came to attend Shinde’s funeral at Kaigaon village.

As many as four youths attempted suicides were reported from across the State. Two youngsters Jayant Sonavne and Jagannath Sonavne tried to commit suicide by jumping into a river and consuming poison respectively. Both were admitted to the hospital. In Beed, two youths tried to end their lives by jumping from the terrace of the Tehsildar's office, but they were prevented from doing so by the police.

Near the Kaigaon Toka bridge from where Shinde had taken a plunge into the Godavari river during the course of an agitation demanding reservations for Marathas, the protesters set a fire brigade vehicle on fire. 

In continuation of the protests witnessed after the suicide by Shinde, the agitators took out processions in north, western Maharashtra and Marathwada demanding reservations to Maratha community members in jobs and education.     

As part of  Tuesday’s protests, the activists blocked roads in Aurangabad, Osmanabad and Pune,  while they damaged a bus, a truck  at Aurangabad, a police van  at Hingoli and at least five State-run buses at Kolhapur  The protesters hurled stones and damaged several private vehicles, while they staged a “rail rook” for half an at Parbhani railway stations.

Road transportation was badly affected at several other places across the state. While the protesters resorted to blockades along the Mumbai-Agra National Highway in Nashik, they staged protests in districts of Akola, Nandurbar, Nanded, Jalgaon, Parbhani, Kolhapur, Osmanabad, Ahmednagar, Jalna, and Yavatmal. They also set tyres on fire on roads in Nashik, Hingoli.

As a precautionary measure, the state transport authorities suspended services at Aurangabad, Osmanabad and Nanded, thus stranding thousands of passengers in the rural areas. In Nagpur, the agitators took out a procession pressing for reservations and other demands.   

Not wanting to take any chances, the authorities suspended Internet services in Aurangabad, while schools and colleges remained closed in Nanded, Osmanabad and certain other places.

Meanwhile, MKM’s Maharashtra convenor Ravindra Patil demanded that Shinde be declared as a martyr, his family be paid Rs 50 lakh as compensation and to stay the mass government recruitment drive that is currently on, pending a ruling by the Bombay High Court on Maratha reservation issue. 

In a related development, Maharashtra’s Revenue Minister and senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil gave a piece of advice to the Marathas agitating across the State. It is not going to help matters if you undertake an agitation for something that cannot be achieved through protests.