Maratha organisation threatens agitations

Mumbai: The Maratha Kranti Thok Morcha has threatened to start agitations from December 1 if the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis led government does not take a decision on reservation by November. The Morcha has demanded that the cases against Maratha youths during the agitations be withdrawn immediately.

The Morcha has been agitating for long for reservation for the community. Mr Fadnavis has assured that he will take a decision on Maratha reservation by November.

The Morcha leaders met on Tuesday to discuss this issue. The convenor of the Morcha, Abasaheb Patil, demanded that Mr Fadnavis issue directions for withdrawing cases against agitators in three days. Mr Patil said that many of these youths were absconding since several days for fear of being arrested by the police.

“The Morcha will start a mobile application (app) for helping the community youth and will fight cases against agitators. We will provide them all legal assistance,” he said. “If Mr Fadnavis does not announce reservation by November, we will start agitations by December 1,” he threatened, adding that the agitations will be more aggressive this time.

The Morcha demanded that the government provide `10 lakh in financial aid to the legal heirs of those who lost their lives during the agitations. “The government tried to divide us and ‘outsiders’ were responsible for the violence during the agitations. They conspired to defame the agitations,” Mr Patil alleged.