Mumbai: On Tuesday, the police issued a notice to quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil and his team to vacate Mumbai’s Azad Maidan where he has been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike over the demand for reservation to the Marathas
Citing violation of conditions laid down as per the Bombay High Court’s guidelines, the Mumbai police issued a notice to Jarange that he was being denied the permission to protest at Azad Maidan.
After the hearing at the Bombay High Court a day before, Jarange had sought the police nod for carrying out his protest at Azad Maidan but the request was turned down.
As his hunger strike entered the fifth day, Jarange Patil said that his protest is in line with the path shown by democracy and resolved to stand firm on his right to protest.
“Even if I die, I will not leave Azad Maidan. … If you want to see what Marathas are after 350 years, then go ahead and try to remove us from here,” he said, appealing to his supporters to stay calm and disciplined.
“We are protesting within the boundaries of law. After the Bombay High Court’s directives, we removed our vehicles from the road and cleared the traffic. But before getting the reservation, I will not leave Mumbai. If the government uses force and throws us out of Azad maidan, it will be a loss for them. I hope today, the court will give a verdict in our favour.”
A day before, the HC observed that the situation had “gone out of hand” in South Mumbai and directed the Maharashtra government to clear the protesters from the streets except for the designated protest area (Azad Maidan) by Tuesday. While the HC has set a deadline of 4 pm to clear the protesters, it is set to hear the matter Tuesday at 3 pm.
“(Maharashtra Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis is lying and playing games. We are in fact ready to talk to the government. He should not insult the Marathas,” Jarange said.
In its notice, the police said that around 40,000 protesters came to Mumbai along with 11,000 small and big vehicles. Out of these, 5,000 vehicles were parked “illegally” in the South Mumbai area. ThePrint has seen the contents of the notice
“These vehicles are parked illegally and violate conditions due to which it has created traffic snarls. This has created obstacles for common people visiting hospitals, government and private offices,” the notice said.
The police further noted that the permission was only for Friday but the protesters violated it by protesting even on Saturday and Sunday. It further cited the indiscipline of protesters as mentioned in the HC hearing.
While the quota agitation and its fallout were argued in the HC, a few hundred metres away at Azad Maidan, the 43-year-old quota activist remained unrelenting as he warned more than five crore Marathas will descend on the metropolis if CM Fadnavis does not listen to the quota demands of the numerically strong community.
Jarange has been on an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan since 29 August, seeking a 10 percent quota for the Marathas under the Other Backwards Class (OBC) category.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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