Maratha reservation row: Suicide toll rises to eight

Another case of alleged suicide over the Maratha reservation issue has come to light where in a 28-year-old unemployed has set himself on fire on August 5 in a field in Digraswadi village in Parbhani district.

Parbhani’s SP, Krishnakant Upadhyay said the man was identified as Ananta Levade by the police and added that, “The youth cited the reason as Maratha reservation.”

Source said that after the body of the deceased was handed over to his family, a compensation of rupees five lakh and a job to a family member has been announced by the authorities. Despite an appeal from the government and the Maratha Kranti Morcha, suicides over quota for the Maratha community are rising. The death toll, as of today has been accounted to be eight.

On August 4, two cases of suicide were registered which included that of a 40-year-old farmer, who had taken part in the Maratha reservation agitation, allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison at Beed district. In the interiors of Navi Mumbai, a 25-year-old man was found hanging at his home in Turbhe village for the same reason.

Previously, 22-year-old Umesh Atmaram Indait, allegedly hanged himself in his house in Aurangabad’s Choudhary Colony and 34-year-old Dattatrey Tukaram Shinde, from Pune district, reportedly threw himself in front of a train at the Daundaj railway station.

On August 5, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed the Maratha community through state television and radio while indicating that there were no quick fixes and said his government would be ‘in a position to complete all statutory requirements for reservation by November-end’.

In the 15-minute address, Fadnavis informed that the suggestions of some Maratha leaders to issue an ordinance to provide quota to the community ‘won’t stand the legal test’.

Report from Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) on the issue is pending. Fadnavis has acknowledged and said the panel would inform the Bombay High Court on August 7 about when the report would be submitted. Once the MSBCC report is submitted, Fadnavis said a special session of the state Legislature would be convened within a month to pass a ‘law or resolution’ regarding granting reservation for the community.

The violent Maratha protests and the reported suicides have saddened the CM and he has urged community leaders to come forward for a ‘dialogue’.

Also Read: ‘Where are the jobs?’ questions Nitin Gadkari on the Maratha reservation