'The Dravidian movement was started for the Hindus who were rejected by the upper castes.'
Gaikwad, an MLA from Buldhana assembly seat in Vidarbha region, is no stranger to controversies.
Violent protests erupted in Parbhani, Maharashtra, India, for the second day over the vandalising of a replica of the Indian Constitution. Prohibitory orders were imposed in the city, banning gatherings of five or more people in public places. A mob indulged in arson and vandalised the district collector's office. Police arrested a man in connection with the incident, but protests continued. Protesters demanded a thorough investigation and blamed the government's lax approach.
Zirwal and the others were protesting against the inclusion of the Dhangar community in the quota for tribals.
The poll aspirants who feel threatened are seeking to garner sympathy from their voters by meeting influential leaders like Jarange in the Marathwada region
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat has demanded that the party be given the crucial home department in the new Maharashtra government, indicating fissures among the Mahayuti allies. He also alleged attempts to sideline caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is reportedly upset with the BJP's decision to claim the chief minister's post.
'The BJP, already falling short of a strong OBC leader from Maharashtra, will be more than happy to welcome Chhagan Bhujbal in its fold.'
The minister urged the doctors to rejoin work by respecting the Supreme Court's direction to them, but refrained from giving a direct reply on whether the state government would take any punitive action for violating the apex court's order.
Fasting quota activist Manoj Jarange on Monday sought reservation for the Maratha community in entire Maharashtra and not in specific regions and warned the ongoing agitation will be ratcheted up if the demand was not fulfilled by the state government.
The BJP cannot afford to alienate the OBCs, who have explicitly voiced their opposition to the Maratha quota.
Owaisi said 324 farmers have died by suicide in "Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) division", but no one is talking about it.
Speaking to reporters at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, the activist said he would wait and see if the state government converts its draft notification on 'blood relatives' of Kunbi Marathas into law and then decide on the course of his agitation.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Sunday refuted talk of his stir not being a factor in the Maharashtra assembly polls, which were swept by the Mahayuti comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.
Gujjar agitators continued the blockade of many rail and road routes in Rajasthan and jammed the Jaipur-Ajmer highway on Monday as their agitation over the issue of reservations in jobs entered the eighth day. "Nearly 200 agitators have blocked the highway near Nasirabad road at Mangaliawas (in Ajmer district). Traffic has been affected but is being diverted to other routes," police sources said. "Talks with local Gujjar leaders are going on to resolve the situation," he said
Jarange appealed to Shinde and his deputies to come together and resolve the issue of Maratha quota, an emotive issue which has been dominating the state's political discourse for the last few months.
SPG chief and quota agitation leader Lalji Patel has been arrested by Mehsana police in connection with the "jail bharo" agitation which had turned violent on April 17.
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
'Those who have wronged or harassed the Maratha community should be taught a lesson through the ballot'
The Bench, constituted on February 9 and comprising the Chief Justice, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice Jaibunnisa M Khazi, heard on a day-to-day basis over the last two weeks a batch of petitions filed by some girls seeking permission to wear the hijab in educational institutions where a uniform has been prescribed.
The protesters, students demanding jobs in railways, blocked the rail track at 7 in the morning, forcing the authorities to stop the suburban as well as express trains in the affected section between Matunga and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
The court of Justice SH Vora granted temporary relief to Patel, who had filed the bail modification petition on November 7 on the ground that he wanted to offer prayers at the temple of his kuldevi (local deity).
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Saturday launched a fresh indefinite hunger strike in Maharashtra's Jalna district, demanding implementation of the draft notification that recognises Kunbis as blood relatives of the Maratha community members.
The opposition parties on Sunday slammed the move to hire public servants through lateral entry, claiming it will snatch reservations from SCs, STs and OBCs, but the Bharatiya Janata Party hit back stating the National Democratic Alliance government was bringing transparency to this mode of recruitment started by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
On Monday, the agitators blocked NH-11 and continued their blockade from previous days at other places. Since the agitation began on Friday, it has affected the movement of more than 250 trains.
Over a week-long dharna led by Kirori Bainsla on railway tracks and highways had inconvenienced travellers.
Activist Manoj Jarange, whose indefinite fast over Maratha reservation entered the fifth day on Wednesday, started taking intravenous fluids after a Maharashtra minister assured to resolve the issue.
Gujjar protesters blocked the Delhi-Mumbai rail route and a key national highway for the fifth day on Monday after negotiations with the government over their demand of five per cent quota were stalled due to disagreement over the meeting venue.
The situation is currently under control, Beed Superintendent of Police Nandkumar Thakur told PTI.
The Maratha community is not backward and hence it does not require reservation in government jobs and education, a petitioner argued before the Bombay high court on Wednesday.
The nearly month-long agitation by members of the Gujjar community demanding Scheduled Tribe status -- was called off by their leader Kirori Singh Bainsla on Thursday. The decision comes in the wake of the agreement finalised between the Rajasthan government and leaders of the Gujjar community on Wednesday.The 27-day Gujjar agitation, which witnessed large-scale violence, claimed 43 lives in police firing in Rajasthan and Haryana.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday reiterated that he will stop drinking water from Wednesday evening if his demand for reservation to the Maratha community is not fulfilled by the Maharashtra government.
Patil said Shinde during his Dussehra speech at Azad Maidan in Mumbai assured the community of reservation.
The health condition of Maratha quota agitation spearhead Manoj Jarange, whose indefinite fast continued on the fifth day on Wednesday, deteriorated and he was given intravenous (IV) fluids when he was asleep during the protest, an activist close to him said.
The funeral of 10 Kuki-Zo youths, who were killed in an alleged gunfight with CRPF, has been delayed pending the release of post-mortem reports. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), representing the Kuki-Zo community, is exploring the possibility of conducting a second autopsy in Churachandpur. The youths' bodies were airlifted to Churachandpur from Assam's Silchar town on Saturday. The incident follows a series of clashes between security forces and militants in the region. The post-mortem examination of the 10 Kuki-Zo youths, who ITLF claimed were village volunteers as against the Manipur government's assertion that they were militants, was conducted at Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) in Assam. The bodies have been kept in the local hospital morgue for the time being.
The activist said leaders opposing Maratha interests would face consequences in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections.
The Maharashtra police has so far registered 141 cases in connection with the violence during the Maratha quota agitations and arrested 168 persons, state Director General of Police Rajnish Seth said on Wednesday.
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
Curfew was clamped in Mehsana town in Gujarat and mobile internet service banned on Sunday as a massive rally of the Patel community demanding reservation.
'Since September 1, a senior cabinet minister has been to-ing and fro-ing between Jalna and Mumbai by chartered flight every single day with messages from the two deputy chief ministers and the chief minister to get Manoj Jarange-Patil to back down from his agitation.'
Bhujbal, who has strongly opposed the demand to include the Marathas in the other backward classes category for quota benefits, said a new social system is taking shape in Maharashtra which is different from the order envisaged by prominent social reformers.
