With new leadership faceless, stir turning violent

Aurangabad: The assurances of the Maratha Kranti Morcha leaders of a peaceful protest on Thursday came undone as the agitation turned violent, especially in Pune and Aurangabad.
Though the leaders washed their hands off the violence, prominent entrepreneurs from the Maratha community feel that the emergence of the “new, faceless” protest has resulted in the agitation going out of control.They feel that the frustrated youth do not trust the established leadership.
Maansingh Pawaar, former president of the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MACCIA), noted that the agitation had remained largely peaceful in the past though it was leaderless. He feels that the government must rope in prominent personalities from the community to contain the agitation.
Pawaar expressed concern that the situation seems to have gone out of control as a new and faceless leadership has emerged at the village, taluka and district level and was spearheading the agitation. “Youths have lost faith in the established and traditional leadership. Everyone is calling the shots and is under the impression that it is the appropriate time to pressurize the government to accept the reservation demands,” he said.
He suggested that the government rope in respected Maratha citizens at the local level to reason with the agitators. “The government has already taken a positive decision by putting off the mega recruitment drive. The youths need to be told that if there are 70,000 vacancies with the government, but there are at least 10 lakh positions available outside the government. Youths need to acquire skill and training to avail these,” he said.
Bhanudas Jadhav, a chartered accountant from Beed who had joined the Parli agitation, agreed that new local aspirants have taken over the Maratha Kranti Morcha at different places and are singing different tunes, though they agree on the demand for reservation. “Nobody is listening to the established leadership. I feel that the government should be given time till November-end,” he said.
On Tuesday, state coordinator of the Maratha Kranti Morcha Abasaheb Patil announced that they would withold the agitation till November 30, but the outfit’s district coordinators went against him. They decided to go ahead with the agitation on Thursday.
Uday Gavare, a lawyer by profession and Latur coordinator of the outfit, had said that they did not agree with Patil and could continue their agitation. Even those in Beed district did not support Patil’s decision.
On Thursday, Maratha Kranti Morcha functionaries, who were instrumental in organizing the state-level meeting in Aurangabad, washed their hands off the violence at different places in the state, including Pune.
Rajendra Datey-Patil, who has filed a petition for Maratha reservation, told TOI that they are in touch with the Pune activists who said they had nothing to do with the violence. “Some outsiders might have triggered the incidents to defame the Maratha Kranti Morcha agitation,” he said.
He said protesters had taken out bullock cart rallies and peacefully blocked roads, staged a sit-in agitation in many places. “There were stray incidents of violence, but overall the agitation was peaceful,” he said.
Abhijit Deshmukh, another functionary of the MKM, said the bandh was successful everywhere and the Pune protests were triggered by unknown elements and they did not have anything to do with them.
The 32 Maratha samanvayaks (coordinators) from across the state, who had gathered in Aurangabad on Wednesday, had vouched for a peaceful agitation. Arjun Gayake, a well-known industrialist in Aurangabad, said if the agitation continues for long, it would affect industries and growth of the state.