A runaway hit about an inter-caste romance ending in honour killing, the brutal gang rape and murder of a minor in Ahmednagar's Kopardi, recurrent agrarian distress, "misuse" of laws that prevent atrocities against Dalits and long-pending demand for quota – The caste cauldron in Maharashtra is on a boil.

The saga has now culminated in the dominant Maratha community organising massive morchas across the state. Early in October, five lakh people may hit Mumbai's streets to draw attention to their demands, including security for women, punishment for Kopardi culprits, reservation for Marathas and prevention of the misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act-1989. Critics meanwhile claimed the 'Maratha Kranti' morchas, which have been peaceful so far, are the handiwork of elements in the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, and the aim is to polarise the Maratha-Kunbi caste cluster, said to account for around 31.5% of Maharashtra's population. In fact, Pawar's comments about the atrocity Act and later the volte face pointed to the party's culpability, the critics alleged.

They further charged that the protests had led to fear among Dalits, especially Neo-Buddhists (erstwhile Mahars who converted to Buddhism with Babasaheb Ambedkar).

Maratha leaders also admitted that factors such as discontent over depiction of the community in Marathi movie Sairat, persistent agrarian distress, creeping urbanisation with its changing social mores and the inability to reconcile with quota-fuelled upward mobility of castes that were hitherto lower in the social pyramid have also lit the keg. Ironically, Marathas have dominated the socio-political scene in Maharashtra, accounting for most of the elected representatives and chief ministers. Maratha leaders also control the co-operative sector.

Sources said the idea of protests was sown by Aurangabad-based group Sakala Maratha, and it germinated because of a sustained social media and word-of-mouth campaign. Organisers pointed out that the movement has no centralised leadership or political connotation. Beginning with Aurangabad, morchas have taken place in Ahmednagar, Jalna, Jalgaon, Beed, Osmanabad and Parbhani. "Why did these people come? They are angry as injustice is perpetrated in the name of the atrocity Act," said Mansingh Pawar, Aurangabad-based entrepreneur and son of former MP Balasaheb Pawar, adding that the turnout surpassed his expectations.

Pointing to the flip-flop over reservation for Marathas and "defamation of Marathas" in films, dramas and media, Pawar, who is involved with Sakala Maratha, said these factors led to the protests. He noted that the community was changing with time and it was wrong to paint everyone with the same brush. Pawar said while Marathas were said to have dominated Maharashtra's politics, it was restricted to just a few families and not the larger community. Denying that the protests were backed by political groups, Pawar said the protests would help in the formation of an alternate social leadership.

Sambhaji Brigade spokesperson and NCP leader Pradeep Solunkhe, who is also a part of the Sakala Maratha team, said they had decided to ensure that the protest was apolitical. He added no slogans were given out in morchas, with protests culminating in a reading of the charter of demands by girls and the subsequent handing over of the list to the district authorities. Participants even picked up their own trash. While the first morcha at Aurangabad was to protest against the Kopardi incident, other morchas included demands to prevent the misuse of the atrocity Act and quota for Marathas.

"A huge section of the community is economically deprived. Many are alienated from land and work as agricultural labourers. This has led to a demand for reservation," noted Pravin Gaikwad of the hardline Sambhaji Brigade. The erstwhile Congress-NCP government had approved 16% reservation for Marathas, which later got caught in a legal tangle. Kunbis, who are present in large numbers in Konkan and Vidarbha, are already in the OBC list.Gaikwad said the educated, depoliticised section within the community also participated in these rallies.

A Maratha leader said agriculture was in a crisis, with even prosperous farmers feeling the pinch due to drought and lack of remunerative prices, fragmented holdings, reluctance of the younger generation to get into farming and pressures of urbanisation. All this had put the community in a bind, he said. Jobs in government and co-operative sectors were also reportedly shrinking, leading to a need for quota.

"The upward mobility of Dalits coupled with an OBC resurgence in the post-Mandal era has shaken up Marathas. They feel challenged by others' rising political, economic and social clout," said the leader. "Of the three accused in the Kopardi case, only one was Dalit. This is being used for politicisation," said BJP Rajya Sabha MP Amar Sable, alleging that the morchas were planned and funded by the Opposition NCP and Congress. He warned of counter-mobilisation due to insecurity among Dalits.

"Whenever a non-Maratha became a chief minister in Maharashtra, be it AR Antulay or Manohar Joshi... (the Maratha leadership) has tried to destabilise the government," charged Sable, adding that senior NCP leaders were also facing the threat of impending action in cases of irregularities, and hence, were trying to polarise society. "What happened in Kopardi was wrong. But the time lag between the incident and the protests proves that they were not spontaneous," said writer-activist Sanjay Sonwani, adding that the misuse of the atrocity Act by some and comments against Hindu deities on social media had created a social rift.

"Farmers have no social standing. Young farmers are unable to get brides. Even those who work in shops refuse to marry off their daughters to farmers," said Anant Chonde, former president of the Sambhaji Brigade. "The issue is being used by the NCP in view of the coming municipal and Zilla Parishad polls," said an OBC activist, adding that the Maratha polarisation could lead to a backlash from others.

Admitting that there were instances of the atrocity Act being misused, PG Jogdand, dean, faculty of arts, University of Mumbai and professor and head of the department of sociology, however, noted that murder and rape of Dalits could not be glossed over. He added that unlike communities such as Muslims and Dalits, Marathas lacked the occupational flexibility due to their feudal background.