The Maratha Kranti Morcha, loosely translated as "Maratha revolutionary demonstration" in the Marathi language, was a series of silent and pragmatic protests organized by the Maratha community in various cities across India, and in overseas diaspora communities. Other groups, such as Muslims and other religious minorities, also supported the Morcha.[1] The impetus for the rallies was the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Kopardi village, Maharashtra, on 13 July 2016.[2] The protesters demanded the death sentence for the rapists. The Maratha caste dominate the power and cultural structure in Maharashtra due to the size of their population.[3]
The rallies featured no leaders and no slogans. Millions of people from across Maharashtra came together to protest, and initially no harm was done to any public or private property until January 2017, when a few instances of violence were noted.[4]
The demand for reservations in educational positions and government jobs were also a part of these protests. At the time, the Bombay High Court had recently upheld the reservations granted to the Maratha community, but also mentioned that the percentage of quotas given wasn't justifiable.[5] Later, the Supreme Court quashed the Maratha community reservations.[6] A large percentage of Marathis are farmers, and the community had been severely affected by droughts and degraded arable land. Due to the lack of reservations, unemployment had become a major problem in the Maratha community. Some castes within the Maratha community, known as Kunbi, did receive the benefits of reservations provided to the Other Backward Class category; however, most people were alleged to have lost their benefits.
2016 demands
Punishment of culprits in the Kopardi rape and murder case
Reservations in educational positions and government jobs
On 7 October 2016, 2 month and 24 days after the rape and murder incident, the Ahmednagar Police filed a charge sheet running into over 350 pages before the Ahmednagar sessions court in which the trio was charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.[8]
On 19 October 2016, 3 months to the incident, the Kopardi rape and murder case trial began in the Ahmednagar sessions court. The special public prosecutor and lawyer opened the case by describing the charges of criminal conspiracy to commit rape and murder against all three accused.[9]
On 18 November 2017, 1 year and 4 months after the incident, the Ahmednagar sessions court convicted the three men on charges of rape, murder, and criminal conspiracy.[10]
On 29 November 2017, the Ahmednagar sessions court awarded the death sentence to all three convicts.[11][12]
On 10 September 2023, the Kopardi rape and murder case convict was found dead inside Pune's Yerawada Jail.[13]
The Maratha Kranti Morcha carried out its largest silent protest in the financial capital of India, Mumbai, on 9 August 2017. Around half a million members of the Maratha community from across the state gathered in Mumbai. The protest started from Jijamata Zoo Byculla and culminated at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. Schools, junior colleges, and about 450 institutes in South Mumbai remained shut. Mumbai's famed Dabbawalas took the day off to participate in the morcha.[41]
During the silent protest, leaders from the Maratha community also warned that they would switch to violent tactics after two weeks if state authorities did not act on their demands.[42]
2023
Manoj Jarange-Patil, a Maratha quota activist, has been a prominent figure in the Maratha Community's fight for reservation in Maharashtra. He is leading multiple agitations and protests, including dharna and hunger strikes.[43]
Gallery
Violence
January 2017
Road blockades (chakka jams) were held on 31 January 2017 to gather momentum and mount pressure on the state government before the community’s silent rally scheduled in Mumbai on 6 March 2017.
On 23 July 2018, a Maratha Kranti Morcha activist committed suicide; the protesters refuse to collect the body and demanded the resignation of Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Kakasaheb Shinde-Patil, aged 28 committed suicide by jumping into the Godavari River during agitations at the village of Kaygaon Toka in the [[Gangapur, Maharashtra
|Gangapur]] taluka of Aurangabad District. The protesters blamed the district administration for not deploying boats and lifeguards despite being forewarned about the agitations.[48]
On 24 July 2018, protests turned violent; protesters attacked police officers and torched buses, police vehicles, and private cars.[49]
Property damage : 160 private cars in Navi Mumbai,[56] 37 public transport buses in Mumbai,[57] 2 fire brigade vehicles in Aurangabad,[58] 16 vehicles torched, 80 vehicles vandalized in Chakan, Pune,[59][60][61][62][63][64] 16 buses burned in Solapur[65]
August 2018
Maratha groups announced a shutdown across Maharashtra on August Kranti Day 2018 to intensify agitation for reservations. August Kranti Day is celebrated annually on 9 August. The Marathas launched a non-cooperation movement against the Government of Maharashtra and the Government of India. The non-cooperation movement covers non-payment of taxes to government and local bodies until reservations are implemented.[66][67]
Impacts
After continuously growing protests in each city and millions of people's participation in each Maratha Kranti Morcha, on 13 October 2016 the Government of Maharashtra took the decisions to:[68] and
Increase the upper limit of the Economically Backward Class (EBC) to Rs.6,00,000, and announced the extension of monetary benefits under this category to students from all castes. Students from the EBC category studying in all professional courses would be eligible for benefits such as fee reimbursement under the Rajshri Shahu Maharaj Scheme, which was named after the Maratha king Rajshri Shahu of Kolhapur, who introduced the first reservation policy in the kingdom of Kolhapur State.
Create provisions for children of small landholding farmers under the Panjabrao Deshmukh Scheme, named after first State Agriculture Minister of India and Freedom fighter.
As the Bombay high court had stayed the 16% reservation granted to Marathas in government jobs and educational positions on the grounds that the data used by the government was faulty, the Government of Maharashtra on 5 December 2016 filed a 2,800-page affidavit to justify the reservations for Marathas as legal and show that it did not violate constitutional provisions. The affidavit contained documents substantiating the claim that the community is socially and educationally backward.[69]
General Election 2024
The threat to the BJP’s hegemony is dire, as caste assertion threatens to break through the Hindutva patina.[70]
The impact of the Maratha agitation is such that two MPs from Shinde’s Shiv Sena – Hemant Patil and Hemant Godse – announced their resignation from the Lok Sabha in support of the protesters and their demand. BJP MPs openly extended his support to the Maratha community.[71][72][73]
