Maratha quota: Two more Maharashtra legislators announce resignation in support of protestors

A day after Shiv Sena leader Hemant Patil announced his resignation as an MP in support of protestors seeking reservations for the Maratha community in educational institutions and government jobs, two more legislators in Maharashtra followed suit.

Nashik MP Hemant Godse sent his resignation letter to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and appealed to him to grant reservations to the Maratha community as soon as possible. Laxman Pawar, the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from the Gevrai Assembly constituency in Maharashtra’s Beed district, also submitted his resignation in support of the cause, PTI reported.

Hemant Patil, the MP from Maharashtra’s Hingoli, had sent his resignation letter to the Lok Sabha secretariat on Monday. Hemant Patil and Hemant Godse belong to Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction.

The Marathas are a group of clans, historically comprising peasants and warriors but generally with an agrarian background. The community has demanded quotas in education and government jobs for decades, citing a decline in financial stability following agrarian distress. A series of massive protests were organised to press for the demand in 2017 and 2018.

These demands for Maratha quota resurfaced in recent months with activist Manoj Jarange-Patil launching a fresh agitation for the cause in September.

On October 25, Jarange-Patil started a hunger strike at the Antarwali Sarati village...

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