Maratha community members to unfurl black flags on Mukti Sangram Din

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Members of Sakal Maratha Samaj (SMS) will boycott the flag hoisting ceremony on Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din and unfurl black flags on the houses.

It may be noted that members of the Maratha community have been staging a hunger strike at Antarwali Sarati in the Jalna district for the past 13 days under the leadership of Manoj Jarange. Police lathi-charged on the agitators to curb the agitation. A delegation of SMS submitted a memorandum to the Government on Monday through the divisional commissioner.

In the memorandum, it was stated that the promise of removing the backlog of Marathwada development was not fulfilled. Maratha community was given OBC status in Nizam rule.

Marathwada was merged into unified Maharashtra on May 1, 1960. The community was neglected for 65 years. The community members have been agitating silently for the past 40 years for their inclusion in the OBC category. A total of 58 morchas were taken out, but, the State Government did nothing.

Maratha community members have been agitating at Antarwali Sarati since August 29 under the leadership of Manoj Jarange.

Police lathi-charged the agitators who have been agitating peacefully. False cases were also registered against them. The community members started protesting against all the incidents.

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Nature of agitations

--Sakal Maratha Samaj members will unfurl black flags on their houses since September 15 as part of a protest on Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din.

--They will stage sit-agitation and demonstration in front of the residences of all MLAs and MPs of Marathwada

--They will not participate in the Mukti Sangram Din ceremony to be held on September 17.