Govt misled Maratha community for benefit during elections: Vijay Wadettiwar on Maratha reservation

A protest for Maratha reservation in the Jalna district of central Maharashtra turned violent on Friday leading to several people including 38 police personnel getting injured.

LoP Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on the lathi-charge on protestors over Maratha reservation said, The government has deliberately done this to squash this movement. They can't give reservations to Marathas They misled the Maratha community for benefit during elections.

On Saturday, the situation was under control and the police had filed a case against more than 360 people, of whom 16 have been identified, for their alleged involvement in violence, a day after a Maratha quota protest in Maharashtra's Jalna descended into violence, injuring some police officers and other people.

Police used baton-charge and fired teargas shells to disperse a violent mob at Antarwali Sarathi village on Dhule-Solapur road in Ambad tehsil. Villagers also claimed that police fired some rounds in the air, but officials did not confirm it. The protesters, led by Manoj Jarange, had been staging a hunger strike demanding reservation for the Maratha community at the village since Tuesday. The trouble began when police tried to shift Jarange to hospital on doctors' advice, officials said.

Villagers claimed that police fired some rounds in the air, but officials did not confirm it. According to police, around 40 police personnel and some other persons were injured in the violence. The protesters torched at least 15 state transport buses and some private vehicles, they said.