Following the tragic suicide of Sunil Baburao Kawle, a young activist who took his own life for the cause of reservation, leaders of the Maratha Kranti Morcha are pleading for restraint and emphasizing that such drastic actions won’t further their goals.
“Sunil Baburao Kawle, a youth from Jalna, died by suicide in Mumbai on Thursday. A suicide note recovered by police from his bag revealed that he ended his life for the sake of reservation,” Morcha coordinator Vinod Patil said Friday.
The death triggered messages from community leaders to calm down and prevent the youth from taking extreme steps.
“Appealing to Maratha youths to not sacrifice their lives,” Patil said, “This is not the way to get the issue of reservation resolved. The Maratha community has a history of fighting battles and winning them. We should not get depressed and give up the fight halfway. We will have to keep fighting till we get to the logical conclusion.”
Patil also urged the Maharashtra government to act fast. “The issue of reservation will become very serious from here on. It is related to our lives. The government should give reservation to the community at least now or is it waiting for more lives to be sacrificed?” he said.
Calling upon the government to take steps to stop suicides by Maratha youths, Patil said, “If suicides by youngsters from the Maratha community are not prevented, it might lead to an inevitable upsurge in violence.”
Manoj Jarange-Patil, who is leading the community’s agitation for reservation, stressed that the government should take responsibility for these tragedies and decide on reservation before the October 24 deadline. He implored Maratha youth not to resort to such extreme measures, stating that the fight for reservation is ongoing.
Jarange-Patil also said the government should take responsibility for the Jalna man’s death. “The government has an October 24 deadline. It should decide before the date whether it wants to give us reservation or not,” he added.
Rajendra Kondhare, who heads Maratha Mahasangh, expressed shock at the suicide and called for immediate steps by the government before things go out of hand. “Six years ago, when the Maratha reservation agitation started, a youth ended his life, and a series of suicides followed.
We hope the situation does not grow worse. For this, the government will have to act decisively and calm down the inflamed nerves of Maratha youths. There is anger, frustration, and resentment in the community over the delay in getting reservation and this is leading to drastic steps.”
Kondhare said the problem was that opportunities for the youth were fewer in the Marathwada region. “Marathwada is a drought-hit region. There are no job opportunities. Farming has been hit by years of repeated droughts. No income from farming, no job opportunities…families who have stayed back in Marathwada are in a precarious situation and this is driving their sons to take extreme steps,” he said.
Kondhare further said that in the absence of stable income, the Maratha community in Marathwada was caught in a vicious circle thanks to money-lenders. “Several families run up huge debts taken for farming, marriages, and other purposes.
