Amidst the violent protests over Maratha reservation, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar arrived in Jalna on Saturday to meet with villagers who were wounded in a police lathi-charge and are being treated at Ambad Government Hospital, news agency ANI reported. Pawar was accompanied by state NCP president Jayant Patil, as well as parliamentarians Rajesh Tope and Sandeep Kshirsagar. Later, he travelled to Antarvali-Sarati hamlet to speak with the demonstrators and express his support while criticising the police violence.
Speaking to injured people in a hospital in the afternoon, the NCP chief said those demanding reservations for the Maratha community in jobs and education must do it calmly, with restraint and composure, PTI reported.
Pawar, who promised them his support, also visited with other hunger strikers at the scene of Friday's police action.
He blamed the event on the state home department and called the police response "inhuman."
"Our state president Jayant Patil and MLA Rajesh Tope informed me about the incident in detail... Rajesh Tope requested me to come here as soon as possible, this incident is very serious and if people who are affected are not consoled or taken care then there are chances that the incident might spread across Maharashtra. Therefore Jayant Patil & I decided to come here immediately and meet the people," Pawar stated.
His visit comes a day after a hunger strike calling for reservations for the Maratha community in education and government jobs turned violent.
Meanwhile, over jalna protest, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi stated: "That protest had been going on peacefully for some days now... State Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a lathi-charge on women and children. In a reaction to that, the violence spread... Because of their greed to stay in power, they are doing such activities without worrying about the people. Farmers, women and youth are not safe there... This is unfortunate and condemnable. Maharashtra HM Devendra Fadnavis should resign."
On Saturday, a 'bandh' was observed in Beed, Maharashtra, in protest of police intervention a day earlier on people on a hunger strike in Jalna seeking quota for the Maratha community in jobs and education.
On Friday, police used baton charges and tear gas shells to disperse a hostile mob at Antarwali Sarathi on the Dhule-Solapur route in Jalna's Ambad tehsil after people there allegedly refused to allow officials to transfer a man on hunger strike to the hospital.
The Maratha Kranti Morcha-called shutdown in Beed was mainly peaceful, however stone pelting was reported from Majalgaon, and private and state-run buses kept off the roads, according to authorities.