Thane: Maratha Kranti Morcha calls for bandh in Kalyan town over Jalna violence

Pic/PTI

The Maratha Kranti Morcha has called for a bandh on Monday in Kalyan town of Maharashtra's Thane district to condemn the baton-charging of protesters in Jalna during their demand for Maratha quota, reported news agency PTI.

In the wake of the bandh call, security in the town has been stepped up, an official in-charge at the Kalyan police control room told PTI.

Essential services were exempted from the bandh, the morcha members told PTI.

Police baton charged and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse a violent mob in Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna district on Friday after protesters allegedly refused to let authorities shift to hospital a man on hunger strike for Maratha quota.

Several persons. including 40 police personnel, were injured and more than 15 ST buses were set ablaze in the violence.

On Monday morning, a number of activists of the Maratha Kranti Morcha moved around in Kalyan town appealing to shopkeepers and other public service providers, including auto-rickshaw drivers, to support the bandh.

So far, there was not much affect of the bandh, the official at the police control room told PTI.

However, the Maratha Kranti Morcha's local leader Harshwardhan Palande claimed most of the shops in eastern part of Kalyan were closed.

He said the auto-rickshaws were operating so that office-goers do not face any inconvenience, reported PTI.

On Sunday, the Maratha Kranti Morcha activists protested against the Jalna incident by crushing pumpkins with their legs at the Shivaji Chowk in Kalyan.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday announced that Jalna district superintendent of police, Tushar Doshi, is sent on compulsory leave and two DYSP-rank officers transferred out of Jalna district.

Shinde said ADGP (law and order) Sanjay Saxena would probe the lathi-charge incident, and if required, a judicial probe would be conducted.

In the wake of violence in Maharashtra's Jalna district over the Maratha quota demand, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said his government was committed to providing reservation to this community in education and government jobs.

Talking to reporters after attending a state function in Buldhana district, around 450 km from Mumbai, he also said that there was no misunderstanding between him and two deputy chief ministers in the state and that all of them were working as a good team.

"My government is committed to giving reservation to the Maratha community in the state. We will not sit quiet until the community get its due reservation," Shinde said.

"Till the Maratha community gets reservation, the government schemes that are already in place will continue and deserving people from the Maratha community will benefit from it," he added.

Reservation in jobs and education provided by the state government to the Maratha community was quashed by the Supreme Court in May 2021, citing the 50 per cent ceiling on total reservations among other grounds.

An agitation seeking reservation for the Marathas turned violent at Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna on Friday, leading to several people, including dozens of police personnel, getting injured. Police resorted to lathi-charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse a violent mob that allegedly refused to let authorities shift a man on a hunger strike as part of the quota stir to the hospital.

(With inputs from PTI)