Maratha stir: Pressure mounts on CM Fadnavis

The chief minister gets little support from his party colleagues

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis along with party leaders interact with the media after an all-party meeting to discuss the Maratha reservation issue, in Mumbai on Saturday | PTI Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis along with party leaders interact with the media after an all-party meeting to discuss the Maratha reservation issue, in Mumbai on Saturday | PTI

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been cornered on the issue of Maratha reservation. After cancelling his visit to temple town Pandharpur to perform pooja of Lord Vithoba on the day of 'Ashadhi Ekadashi', Fadnavis reportedly had to cancel his visit to Sangli where he was scheduled to campaign for his party in the municipal corporation elections. 

The Maratha Kranit Morcha unit in Sangli had warned that they would disrupt the chief minister's political meetings. The Morcha had said the chief minister should come to the town only with a final decision on the issue of reservation for Maratha community in jobs and education. It is learnt that Fadnavis has cancelled his visit and instead sent a seven minute video clip of his speech for the purpose of BJP's campaign. Monday is the last day of campaigning for Sangli municipal corporation elections.

Earlier Fadnavis had to cancel his trip to Vithoba temple in Pandharpur on July 23. 

Fadnavis has already announced that the government will call a special session of state legislature to discuss the issue of Maratha reservation. The chief minister has said that he will urge the state minority commission to table its report on the issue at the earliest, in a month's time. He has also declared that in the upcoming mega recruitment by the state government, 16 per cent of total 72,000 jobs will be reserved for Maratha community. However, all these announcements, made after an all party meet on Saturday, have failed to pacify the Maratha community which comprises 32 per cent of state's population.   

Complicating the situation further for Fadnavis, he was left all alone to fight the battle. Party's state president, Raosaheb Danve, a prominent Maratha himself, did little to help the chief minister. Fadnavis' cabinet colleague Pankaja Munde used the opportunity to air her chief ministerial ambitions by stating that had she had the file before her she would have cleared it in just one hour. 

"Fadnavis is clearly cornered and fighting alone on the issue of Maratha reservation in his government. He is alone because of the sensitivity of the issue as nobody wants to be seen going against politically powerful Maratha community. He is also alone because he happens to be Brahmin by caste. He can't ignore the agitations and he can't rush with the decision to announce the reservations either. But so far he has handled the issue in a very mature manner and this issue won't lead to his removal from the post of chief minister. It will not be acceptable to the RSS. We must also understand that the BJP has nothing much to gain politically by giving reservations to Marathas who have traditionally voted for the Congress and the NCP," Girish Kuber, noted writer and chief editor of Loksatta, a prominent Marathi daily, told THE WEEK. 

In a related development, Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP called meetings of their legislators to discuss the unrest in Maratha community. Shiv Sena's meeting was held at Matoshree, the residence of Uddhav Thackeray. The meetings of Congress and the NCP are being held at the residences of Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly) and Dhananjay Munde (Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council) respectively. 

After his meeting with party legislators, Uddhav Thackeray demanded that the government announce 16 per cent reservation for Maratha community without waiting for the report of state minority commission. He said that a special session of the state legislature should be called  and all parties should come together to send a letter to the  central government favouring reservation for Maratha community. 

Meanwhile, there are reports that a 31-year-old man belonging to Maratha community committed suicide by jumping before a train in Aurangabad. Pramod Hore Patil reportedly wrote a Facebook post declaring his intention to end his life on the issue of Maratha reservation.