Maratha leaders oppose Maharashtra Police recruitment

MUMBAI: The Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s announcement of recruitment in the police department has created further unrest among the Maratha community, whose leaders have opposed the recruitments. The state government on Wednesday announced the plan to recruit 12,548 personnel with much fanfare.
The Maratha leaders don’t want the state to go ahead with its plan until a solution to the SC ban on Maratha quota in jobs and education is lifted.

On Thursday, the first salvo was fired by Rajya Sabha MP Sambhaji Raje, who said that the state plan for police recruitment was “like rubbing salt to injury” for the Maratha community. “Why is the state insistent on hiring now? What is the haste? These hirings can be done later also,” he told reporters. The BJP MP has also written a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asking to halt hirings for now.

Abbasaheb Patil of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, an amalgam of Maratha outfits in the state, has also opposed the recruitments saying that the community is opposed to it. “The government should stop the recruitment or else there would be protests from our community throughout the state,” said Patil.

With many other Maratha leaders joining the issue, the state government has gone on the defensive. Home minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday issued a statement saying the government would keep 13% of the posts vacant while going ahead with recruitments.

This is not the first time that the Maratha community has opposed recruitments in pursuit of their demand for reservation. In 2018, they had opposed the state government’s plan to recruit 72,000 people in government jobs.