Mumbai Hours after the Bombay High Court directed the agitating Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil and his supporters to vacate the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai by 3 pm on Tuesday, the Mumbai Police swung into action and began to disperse protestors gathered there and clear the vehicles parked in areas around the historic ground.
A day after a two-member bench of the high court held that Jarange Patil and his supporters had prima facie violated the conditions of permission given to them for their agitation and asked them to vacate the ground, a HC bench of Acting Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Aarti Sathe noted that the gathering of more than 50,000 people at the protest venue was “completely illegal” and directed that the ground and the city be cleared by 3 pm to restore normalcy. The high court held that the agitation had paralysed daily life and created fear among citizens.
Holding that law and order “cannot be compromised” and pulled up the Maharashtra Government for its failure to deal with the “serious situation”, the HC bench on Tuesday asked the authorities to take urgent steps to restore normalcy in the metropolis.
“They (Jarange and other protestors) are violators. They have no right at all ( to stay put at the ground). They must leave immediately or we will take action. This is completely illegal. After 3 pm, we will not allow anyone there at Azad Maidan,” the HC Bench said.
Following the high court’s 3 pm deadline, a strong posse of police personnel from Mumbai, Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Riot Control Police (RCP) stationed themselves in and around Azad Maidan, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CST), Brihan-Mumbai Municipal Corpo-ration (BMC) headquarters, Mahapalika Marg and Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Marg and began to clear the crowds of the vehicles of the protesters parked in the area.
The police teams, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 1) Dr Pravin Munde, were seen making announcements through loudspeakers, appealing to the agitators to vacate the Azad Maidan “We are following court orders. Please cooperate with us,” Munde said in his repeated appeals to the protesters.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, the police served a notice to leave the Azad Maidan on the ground that he had failed to fulfil the conditions of permission given to him to hold the agitation at the protest venue, where only 5,000 people were allowed to gather there.
Jarange-Patil, whose fast agitation entered the fifth day on Tuesday, hardened his stand, by saying: “Even if I die, I will not leave Azad Maidan. If the Government tries to evict us, it will prove costly. You might charge lathis on Marathas today, but you will also have to visit different parts of Maharashtra. If you want to see what Marathas are after 350 years, then go ahead and try to remove us”
He, however, appealed to his supporters to comply with the high court’s directives and not to inconvenience the Mumbaikars. “You travel by public transport, do not bring vehicles. Even if I die, do not resort to violence”.
“The notice States that a few rules have been violated. We are going to present before the Court whether there has indeed been a violation. He was a little unwell yesterday and the day before. We came here today to know his side…People are cooperating with him. The roads and Ground are 95 per cent empty by the end of the day,” Jarange-Patil’s lawyer Ashish Gaikwad said. In a related development, the Aam Aadmi Party urged the Centre to bring in an amendment in the Constitutoon and lift the ceiling of existing reservations in Maharashtra and increase it on the lines of Tamil Nadu.
Talking to media persons after meeting Jarange-Patil at the Azad Maidan, AAP’s leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said: “Kunbi Marathas are farmers. They have borne the brunt of agrarian distress and related farmer suicides. Their demand is legitimate. Jarange-Patil is fighting a fascist regime in the State. He must take care of his health and take whatever decision keeping his health in mind. He has been voicing his demands for a few years now. The Maharashtra Government has failed to fulfil his oft-repeated promises”.
On its part, the ruling BJP appealed to Jarange-Patil to end his agitation, saying that even Mahatma Gandhi ended his agitations at times.
Talking to media persons, Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said that the MahaYuti Government had accepted most of the demands of the Maratha community and had 10 per cent reservation.
“For every agitation to succeed, some give-and-take is necessary. Sometimes, one must pause. Even Mahatma Gandhi halted agitations at times. A 10 per cent reservation for the Maratha community has now been implemented,” Upadhye said.
“Now is the time to stop! Most of your demands have been fulfilled by the Maha Yuti Government. The remaining issue is about securing reservation from the OBC quota. The BJP’s stance is clear: the Maratha community should get reservation without affecting the OBC quota,” Upadhye added.