Curfew enforced in Maharashtra’s Ambad due to unrest over quotas for Maratha reservation

According to a district administration order, a curfew was enforced in the Ambad taluka of Maharashtra’s Jalna district because of worries about the state of law and order in light of the current Maratha quota movement spearheaded by activist Manoj Jarange-Patil.

Srikrushna Panchal, the Jalna collector, said in the order that Jarange had announced on Sunday that he intended to go to Mumbai and demonstrate in support of the Maratha minority reservation.

It is possible that people would congregate in Jalna’s Antarwali Sarati hamlet, where the activist has been on a hunger strike, in an attempt to halt his travels to Mumbai.

According to the directive, there might be traffic disruptions on the Dhule-Mumbai route and other regions due to the expected big number of people.

A curfew has been imposed in Ambad taluka due to the law and order situation. The order states that the curfew would be in effect from Monday at midnight till further notice.

According to the collector, hospitals, government buildings, schools, media outlets, milk deliveries, and traffic on national roads are not subject to this curfew.

Jarange left Antarwali Sarati on Sunday night and reached the neighboring hamlet of Bhamberi. But the activist went back to Antarwali Sarati on Monday morning and started receiving medical attention.

Road blockades and other disruptive acts will be part of Jarange’s next round of demonstrations, which will begin on Saturday. Jarange is well-known for his past fasts and rallies. His primary demand, in spite of recent legislative moves to create a distinct 10% quota for the group, is that Marathas be included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category for reservation.

On Monday, the Maharashtra legislature approved a measure granting the Marathas 10% quota in government employment and educational institutions, despite the fact that courts had invalidated earlier versions of the same legislation from 2014 and 2019. The state’s existing 62% reserve, which currently includes a 10% quota set aside for the economically disadvantaged sections (EWS) category, would be supplemented by the extra 10% quota.