Maratha supporter ends life; anti-quota lawyer’s vehicles vandalised by activists
The Hindu
Maratha quota agitation intensifies after 25-yr-old takes own life; lawyer's vehicles vandalised. Krishna Kalyankar, 25, found dead in Hingoli farm with note demanding reservation. Activists from Maratha Kranti Morcha vandalise cars belonging to lawyer Gunaratna Sadavarte, an opponent of Maratha reservation.
The agitation for Maratha reservation boiled over on October 26 after a 25-year-old youth allegedly took his own life in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district while quota activists vandalised vehicles belonging to a Mumbai-based lawyer who had been opposing Maratha reservation.
The youth, identified as one Krishna Kalyankar, was found in a farm in Hingoli’s Kalamnuri tehsil, said the police.
The authorities said they had retrieved a note left behind by Mr. Kalyankar in which the deceased said he was taking the extreme step so that Marathas were quickly granted reservation in jobs and education. A team of the Hingoli police reached the spot and sent the deceased person’s body to a government hospital for post-mortem examination.
A number of members from the community have taken their lives during the Maratha quota agitation despite quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil, the most prominent face of the agitation who is again on an indefinite hunger strike, repeatedly urging restraint upon community members.
In the second incident, three activists from the Maratha Kranti Morcha, an outfit spearheading the agitation, vandalised cars belonging to Mumbai-based lawyer Gunaratna Sadavarte outside the latter’s residence in Parel.
According to sources, the vandals chanted pro-reservation slogans after damaging Mr. Sadavarte’s property.
Advocate Sadavarte, who is a known opponent of granting reservation to the Maratha community, lashed out at Mr. Jarange Patil and demanded his immediate arrest by the State government. The latter, however, disclaimed any knowledge of the incident and appealed to community members to carry out the agitation peacefully and not resort to any violence.
The Opposition Congress demanded that the government open the Gandhi Vatika Museum, depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and freedom struggle, built at a cost of ₹85 crore in Jaipur’s Central Park last year, during the Congress-led regime in Rajasthan. The museum has not been opened to the public, reportedly because of the administration’s engagements with the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Almaya Munnettam (Lay People to the Fore), group in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church opposed to the synod-recommended Mass, rejected a circular issued by Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and apostolic administrator Bosco Puthur on June 9 to implement the unified Mass in the archdiocese from July 3.
Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten stated that “not so great decision making” contributed to his side’s defeat to India in the Group-A T20 World Cup clash here on Sunday. The batting unit came apart in the chase, after being well placed at 72 for two. With 48 runs needed from eight overs, Pakistan found a way to panic and lose. “Maybe not so great decision making,” Kirsten said at the post-match press conference, when asked to explain the loss.