Maratha

Azad Maidan

Maharashtra

Navnath

The state backward class commission is all set to submit its report regarding the demand forreservation to the state government and the Bombay High Court. On the backdrop of this move, leaders of the movement seeking reservation have announced a fresh stir with rallies across the state which will culminate in a huge march to the state Assembly on November 26. The leaders have claimed that this march will be the conclusive march will not end till the reservation is declared in the Assembly. Meanwhile, another faction, which is currently sitting on hunger strike atin Mumbai, has demanded that apart from reservation all other demands should be met immediately.Maratha leaders with the demand for reservation have been protesting across the state for the past two years. The protests organised on the culmination of the two-year stir had taken a violent turn across the state. While the sporadic protests continued after this, they were mostly peaceful in nature. But with the backward class commission, set up by thegovernment, tasked with recommending whether the Marathas should get the reservation or not likely to submit its report on November 15, the leaders have given a call for a fresh protest.The commission, which is currently conducting its meetings in Pune, is expected to finish compiling the report on Tuesday and likely to submit it to the government and court on Thursday, which is the last date for putting forth the report.Following the submission of the report, the Maratha Kranti Morcha leaders have announced that they will start Samvad Yatras across the state from November 16. Speaking about the plan, Morcha leader Sanjeev Bhor, said, “The youngsters have turned restless. So there is a need to communicate with them. Since the report is likely to be submitted on November 15 and the Assembly session set to start from November 19, we have decided to organise rallies across the state. We will be talking to the local community members and will be requesting them to participate in the march to the Assembly in Mumbai. We have decided that if the report is in favour, we will sit outside the Assembly demanding that the state government should declare the reservation. If it is not, the protest will be with the demand for the Central government to introduce a bill giving reservations to our community.”Meanwhile, another faction from the community that is sitting on hunger strike at Azad Maidan, has demanded that the government should agree to their other demands immediately.Patil, one of the members, said, “We understand that the decision on reservation will be based on the commission’s report. But we want the government to agree to our other demands such as removal of Sadanand More from the chairmanship of Shahu Research and Training Institute and removing all cases against the Maratha karyakartas who participated in protests. We have decided that we will continue the strike till these demands are met.”