Maharashtra Bandh on August 9 Likely By Marathas Demanding Reservation
The Marathas are demanding 16 percent reservation in education and government jobs. The community held its first protest after a girl from their community was brutally raped and murdered.
Mumbai, July 23: Maratha organisations are likely to call for a Maharashtra bandh on August 9 to press for their demands including reservation. The Devendra Fadnavis-led state government has been unable to address the reservation demand of Marathas for two years. According to sources, Maratha groups were holding meetings in different districts and cities of the state to plan and strategise the protest. An insider stated that the call on bandh is yet to be finalised, as the meeting in Mumbai has not yet taken place.
On Monday, Maratha agitators were detained in Pune's Pimpri-Chinchwad area ahead of CM Devendra Fadnavis scheduled programme as a precautionary measure. The CM also had to cancel the ashadi ekadashi pooja at Pandharpur. Following this, the CM along with his wife and family members performed pooja at his residence. In a statement released, CM stated that he had cancelled his July 23 (today's) visit to the temple town in view of the safety of lakhs of devotees, who usually gather in large numbers on ashadhi ekadashi.
The Marathas are demanding 16 percent reservation in education and government jobs. The community held its first protest after a girl from the community was brutally raped and murdered. The agitators along with their demand of hanging the rape accused till death want a special quota for their community people.
Besides this, all like-minded parties have also decided to call for Bharat bandh on August 9 against the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government. A meeting on the same was held earlier by the Opposition party leaders in New Delhi. August 9 is the day when the Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi originally called the Quit India movement against the Britishers during the freedom struggle. This year, Quit India will mark its 76th anniversary and, therefore, the opposition parties have decided to undertake a similar movement against the BJP regime on state as well as national level.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 23, 2018 02:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).