A protest for Maratha reservation in the Jalna district of central Maharashtra turned violent on Friday leading to several people including 38 police personnel getting injured.
Police used baton-charge and fired teargas shells to disperse a violent mob at Antarwali Sarathi village on Dhule-Solapur road in Ambad tehsil. Villagers also claimed that police fired some rounds in the air, but officials did not confirm it. The protesters, led by Manoj Jarange, had been staging a hunger strike demanding reservation for the Maratha community at the village since Tuesday. The trouble began when police tried to shift Jarange to hospital on doctors' advice, officials said.
While Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made an appeal for peace and announced that a committee will be set up for a high-level probe into the violence, deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed that the police were forced to use baton-charge due to stone pelting. The reservation provided by the state government for the politically dominant Maratha community was quashed by the Supreme Court earlier.
Speaking to a regional news channel, chief minister Shinde said the state government was committed to provide reservation to the Maratha community, and nobody should resort to violence. The state government is taking some steps to give reservation to the community. During Devendra Fadnavis's tenure as chief minister, the state government had given reservation to the Maratha community but the Supreme Court quashed it, he said.
I do not want to go into the politics of it because it was not properly followed up. However, the state government is taking this issue seriously and we will welcome it if there are any suggestions. I appeal to the protesters to maintain peace so that the common people do not suffer, he said.