Why Maharashtra BJP is looking to make peace with violent Maratha protesters
If a senior minister is believed, the state government will soon buy peace with the protestors indulging in violent activities demanding reservation to the Maratha community. The protestors have so far torched public and private vehicles and forced business shutdown. At least eight people have lost their lives. The protestors have threatened to intensify their agitation from August 9. The minister said that the government will release a note accepting some of the protestors’ demands which will not make any impact on its case in the Bombay High Court.
The government is likely to agree that the Maharashtra Backward Class Commission, which is studying whether the Marathas are socially and educationally backward or not, should be urged to release its work-related data at a regular interval. The Commission has conducted surveys of the Marathas in every two talukas of each of the 38 districts.
It also has received around two lakh memorandums across the state. The state government will urge the Commission to release a note on what kind of requests it has received from the community members. “It will be a win-win situation for the protestors as well as the government. They will get a satisfaction that at least one of their demands will be met. We will be happy if the violence comes to an end,” the minister told Mail Today.
The energetic outcome of elections to two municipal corporations – Jalgaon and Sangli – has already boosted the BJP’s confidence. The party secured a majority in these corporations by its own for the first time. It demolished the opposition from Shiv Sena and Congress-NCP respectively in Jalgaon and Sangli though they had been doing an aggressive posturing against the BJP. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the poll outcome was the people’s verdict on his government’s agenda of development.
In other words, the voters have refused to hold the BJP responsible for delaying the Maratha reservation. In Sangli, the BJP dented the Congress-NCP’s stronghold sugar belt, which is a big blow to the Opposition. The BJP think tank, however, thinks in a different way.
For them, the success in Jalgaon and Sangli is a result of polarisation and consolidation of votes on the caste basis. When the opponents backed the Marathas the non-Maratha voters rallied behind the BJP in a symbolic unity against the Maratha aggression. It also indicates that whenever there will be a triangular fight BJP will emerge as the winner cutting across the Opposition votes.
The civic poll results have ended all speculations or moves to replace Fadnavis in the wake of the Maratha reservation quota stir and cemented his leadership. The results have also raised serious questions on Shiv Sena’s strategy of constantly criticising the BJP while sharing power with it in the state and in center. Since coming to power in 2014 in the state, out of the 27 municipal corporations in the state, the BJP is now in power in 16 of them, the Shiv Sena in 5, Congress in 4, NCP in 1 and Independent in 1.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)