Marathas to start protests on September 17

The Maratha kranti morchas, which were postponed due to the ongoing Ganeshotsav festival, will be held from September 17 onwards. Also, with an aim to complete the morchas sooner, they will be held on the same date in many different districts.

Readers may recall that the Maratha community has taken a serious view of the Kopardi incident — in which a minor was raped and murdered brutally — and has united in an unprecedented manner. So far, these morchas, with a minimum of 2,00,000 persons per morcha, have been among the largest in the history of Maharashtra.

Experts said that the Kopardi incident was the last straw on the camel’s back for the Maratha community, with some other grievances being unemployment, reservation in jobs and education and the atrocity Act.

Hingoli district will host the first morcha on September 17. Then, on September 18, morchas will be held simultaneously in Nanded and Sangli districts, while on September 19, simultaneous morchas will be staged at Latur, Jalna and Akola.

The other dates on which the morchas would be held are September 21 at Solapur, followed by September 23 (Ahmednagar), September 24 (Nashik), September 25 (Pune), September 26 (Buldhana), September 28 (Dhule), September 29 (Baramati) and October 3 (Satara).

Furthermore, in a twist to the Maratha kranti morchas, the Muslim community at Osmanabad has thrown its weight behind the morchas and supported the same wholeheartedly. Also, during the morcha in Beed, Muslims supplied water and food packets to those taking part in it.

The Muslim community in other districts are likely to extend their support as well.

Ashfaq Khan of Nashik said that during azan (call to prayer), all Hindu brethren stop their music or loudspeakers till it is over. “But in the Rajwada area, as soon as the azan starts, some communities increase the volume of their loudspeakers. If we object, they threaten us with atrocity cases,” he said.