Maratha Quota Row: NCP Minister's Car Vandalised, Maha CM Shinde Chairs All-Party Meet — 5 Points

Maharashtra government is in soup since Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange announced a hunger strike and protest seeking a reservation for the community. Here are the top developments on the issue.

Maratha Reservation Protest: Manoj Jarange Patil and his supporters are continuing their protest seeking a reservation for people belonging to the Maratha community. The agitation turned violent after protestors burnt houses of MLAs, tyres and also blocked traffic on the Pune-Bengaluru highway on Tuesday. Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's Other Backward Class (OBC) quota through Kunbi caste certificates couldn't satisfy Patil and other demonstrators. Here are some key developments on the issue.

Maratha Quota Protest: 5 Points 

1. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is chairing an all-party meet today to discuss and finalise a solution to the issue of the Maratha reservation as the protest continues to escalate. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has meanwhile said that his party chief Uddhav Thackeray and other six MPs and 16 MLAs have not been invited to the meeting.


2. Mumbai Police has taken three persons in custody for allegedly vandalising cars at the residence of NCP MLA and State Minister Hasan Mushrif near Akashvani in Colaba. Police said two men were raising slogans for the Maratha reservation and vandalising the car belonging to him at his residence near Akashvani in Mumbai's Colaba.


3. Pune police booked around 400-500 people for blocking and burning tyres on Pune-Bengaluru National Highway 48 on Tuesday during a pro-Maratha quota protest near Navle Bridge in Pune city. According to a senior police official of Pune Police, 10 people have been identified as of now and the process to identify others is on, reported ANI. The protestors were booked under IPC sections 143, 146,188,336 at Sinhgad Road Police Station.


4. The workers' union at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj market yard in Maharashtra's Pune called for a one-day shutdown of the market in support of activist Manoj Jarange Patil and Maratha quota protestors. The union has decided to close all businesses and trade under APMC on Wednesday. 


5. Maharashtra's Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Sanjay Saxena visited Beed district after large-scale violence took place here, reported PTI citing an official. He said that so far, 99 people have been arrested in connection with the violence in Beed and the situation is currently under control.