Villagers in Dharashiv launch jail bharo protest over Maratha quota

On Thursday, residents in numerous villages within Maharashtra's Dharashiv district initiated a jail bharo (court arrest) protest in solidarity with the Maratha quota agitation, according to an official source. The jail bharo protest started in the district after local MLA Kailas Patil was detained by the Mumbai police for agitating here to demand reservation for Marathas in government jobs and education in the state.

In the morning, a large assembly of Maratha activists congregated in Dharashiv city and the Anandnagar Rural area to participate in the protest, as reported by a police official. Additionally, in Kaudgaon, approximately 100 activists engaged in a jail bharo protest from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, and 42 of them were subsequently apprehended under Section 68 of the Maharashtra Police Act, according to officials.

A large number of policemen were deployed to maintain law and order in the district, they said. The agitation intensified in the state after activist Manoj Jarange started an indefinite hunger strike to press the quota demand  for the second time since August – at his native village Antarwali Sarati in Jalna district on October 25.

Jarange had earlier sat on an indefinite fast in the last week of August and called it off on September 14 after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde assured to look into the quota demand. At that time, Jarange had set a deadline of 40 days.