"Maratha Community Needs To Exercise Some Patience": CM Eknath Shinde On Maratha Quota Protests (https://twitter.com/priteshshah_)

The ongoing Maratha community”s protest took an unexpected turn on Monday as protestors resort to violence and vandalism. Some of the protestors took the houses of two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs, and office of former minister on fire. Responding to the events, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde appealed: “The Maratha community needs to exercise some patience.”

The houses of MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar, a member of Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction, and another NCP MLA Prakash Solanke, a member of Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction, both in Beed districts, were set ablaze by the agitators. Similarly, Former minister Jaydattaji Kshirsagar”s office was also vandalised. He is a member of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction. The protestors also expressed their anger by destroying vehicles.

The agitation raised its magnitude when Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil began an indefinite fast from October 25. He had undertaken hunger strike earlier from August 29 to September, and by receiving assurance from state government that Mr Jarang”s quota demands will be taken into consideration, he withdrawn from the agitation.

Mr Shinde requested the protestors not to take extreme steps and added that an affirmative decision will be taken after deliberations with Mr Patil. “You will get reservation, you will get one reservation within the framework of the law. There will be no cheating, we don”t want to make a decision that will be cancelled. The request of the government is that if you give some time, everything will be resolved,” reports ANI as Mr Shinde as saying.

The Maratha community have been demanding reservation in government and educational institutions under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category. The government of Maharashtra affirmed that they are in favour of granting reservation to Maratha community which necessitates legal scrutiny.