Villagers in Maharashtra’s Dharashiv launch ‘jail bharo’ protest over Maratha quota

Mumbai, Nov 2 (PTI) Residents in many villages of Maharashtra’s Dharashiv district on Thursday launched a ‘jail bharo’ (court arrest) protest in support of the Maratha quota agitation, an official said.

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.

Hundreds of Maratha activists gathered in Dharashiv city and Anandnagar Rural area in the morning to take part in the protest, the police official said.

At Kaudgaon, about 100 activists took part in a jail bharo protest between 10.30 am and 12:30 pm. Of them, 42 were detained under Section 68 of the Maharashtra Police Act, officials said.

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.

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday published an order asking officials to issue fresh Kunbi caste certificates to eligible Maratha community members from Marathwada, paving the way for them to avail reservation benefits under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.

However, Jarange opposed the move saying the entire Maratha community should be given reservation.