The ongoing Maratha reservation agitation turned violent once again on Sunday, as the activists damaged the car of BJP MP Dr Heena Gavit after she refused to talk to them about their demand in front of district collector’s office at Dhule in north Maharashtra.
On a day when the suicide toll in the Maratha reservation agitation mounted to eight with the death of one more youth, Dr Gavit faced the wrath of the protesters near the district collector’s office at Dhule, where she had gone to attend a District Planning and Development Council (DPDC) meeting.
The DPDC meeting, convened to discuss the issues of both the tribal-dominated districts of Dhule and Nandurbar, was being attended by various elected representatives, including Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamare, who represents Dhule constituency in lok Sabha and MlAs Kirshna Patil and Jaykar Rawal.
The Maratha activists, who were staging a dharna outside the Dhule district collectorate to press for reservations to their community in jobs and education, gheraoed Dr Gavit, as soon as she came out of the meeting. They told the BJP MP that they wanted to talk to her.
However, Dr Gavit refused to interact with them, prompting the protesters to climb onto her car and damage it. Dr Gavit helplessly watched the violence indulged in by the Maratha activists.
After the incident, the Dhule police took 12 protesters into custody. However, the Maratha Kranti Morcha sought to distance itself from the incident saying that the activists had nothing to do with it.
Meanwhile, one more youth — identified as Anant levde-Patil — committed suicide by setting himself on fire an agricultural field in Selu taluka of Parbhani district in Marathwada region.
levde-Patil ended his life after put out a post in Facebook saying that he was sacrificing his life for the Maratha reservation cause. “I am sacrificing my life for Maratha community..... I may not have contributed anything to the country, but I am sacrificing my life for the Maratha community,” levde-Patil stated in his Facebook post that he wrote minutes before he took the extreme step.
With levde-Patil’s death, the total number of suicides committed since July 23, when a 27-year-old activist Kakasaheb Dattareya Shinde jumped from a bridge into the Godavari river at Kaigaon near Aurangabad as part of a “Jal Samadi” (watery grave) agitation undertaken by Marathas demanding reservations for their community members.
Another youth Vishwanath Sonaware died at a hospital at Aurangabad on July 24, a day after he consumed poison as part of the Maratha reservation agitation.
On July 30, one Pramod Jaising Hore (35), jumped in front of a train at Mukundwadi in Aurangabad district. On July 31, Abhijit Deshmukh (30), an unemployed science graduate hanged himself from a tree outside his house in Beed district
On July 31, Kachru Kalyane (35) hanged himself from the ceiling of his home in Nanded district.
Nineteen-year-old girl Tishna Tanaji consumed poison at her home at Deolali village Osmanabad district of Marathawada region on August 1. A third year B.com student, Tishna Tanaji died at a local hospital later the same evening.
One Dattareya Tukaram Shinde (34), a resident of Phironge village In Puradar taluka of Pune district committed suicide by jumping himself in front of a running train on August 2. In a suicide note recovered by the Jajuri police, Shinde had threatened that he would meet a watery grave as part of the Maratha reservation agitation, if chief minister Devendra Fadnavis did not announce reservations for his community members by August 5.