Maharashtra government is trying to cool down the anger arising out of lathi charge on Maratha protesters in Jalna district. Government is seriously considering issuing Kunbi Maratha certificate to the Maratha community. A new path is being explored through the high level committee formed for this. The committee will go through the records of the 1950s and find out whether the Kunbi Marathas of Marathwada were a backward caste during the Nizam rule.
In the cabinet sub-committee meeting held on Monday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, a high-level committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) which will study the decrees of the landlords during the Nizam rule, papers and genealogy of Maratha society. Although earlier, former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had also tried to give reservation to the Maratha community by terming it as backward through the Backward Commission, but the Supreme Court had rejected the appeal of the state government saying that the Maratha community is not backward.
In fact, most of the Marathas who were in Maharashtra at the time of independence, have reservation for Kunbi Maratha. Especially in Konkan, but at that time 8 districts of Marathwada were under Hyderabad. Marathwada was liberated from Nizam rule on 17 September 1948. Due to him, Marathwada was included in Maharashtra. Therefore, the Marathas of Marathwada did not get the status of Kunbi Maratha. Manoj Jarande Patil, sitting on strike in Saroti village of Jalna district, says that when Marathwada was under the rule of Nizam of Hyderabad, Kunbi Marathas were counted among the backward castes. Therefore, they should be given Kunbi caste certificate and a government order should be issued for this.
Following the lathi charge incident in Jalna, Maharashtra, 19 buses of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (ST) have been vandalized and set on fire in the last three days. Apart from this, many private vehicles were also damaged and the godown was also set on fire. Due to this, a loss of around Rs 10 crore has been estimated. On Monday, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that there has been a loss of about Rs 10 crore due to the Maratha agitation. This loss has been caused to the state.
He said that some people are claiming that the lathicharge took place after receiving a call from the ministry. Ajit Pawar challenged the opposition that if they prove that any of the three of us (Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar) had ordered lathi charge, they will retire from politics and they will also have to do the same. He appealed to the Maratha community to maintain peace. The government will make every possible effort for Maratha reservation.
At the same time, State Transport Corporation officials said that ST Corporation has suffered a loss of more than Rs 4 crore. On the other hand, there have been incidents of burning of more than 19 cars and grain warehouses. In view of the tense atmosphere in many districts like Jalna, Aurangabad etc., bus services were stopped in many bus depots in protest against police lathi charge. ST Corporation has also had to bear the loss due to this.
