MUMBAI: After all round criticism of the violence in Pune and Aurangabad during Maratha agitation on Thursday, the Maratha Kranti Morcha Organizers on Friday made it clear that henceforth there won't be any kind of agitations on the street to press for quota demand.
We had ended our agitation at around 1 pm after handing over charter of demand to the district collector. When everybody was expected to return to their homes, some miscreants resorted to violence, the Maratha Kranti Morcha committee members said at a press conference in Pune on Friday.
The violence on Thursday was a deliberate attempt to malign the image of the Maratha agitation and hence, to avoid repetition of any such incidents we have decided to not to take the agitation to streets anymore, the committee members said.
They also added that henceforth cyclic hunger strikes would be carried out on taluka levels till their demands are met. The committee members also took responsibility for the damage done to the Pune district collector's office and said that the organization would pay the fine to compensate it.
However, they also blamed the police for not withdrawing cases against innocent agitators even after assuring so. While some of the Maratha protestors had vandalized premises of Pune district collector's office, other had vandalized vehicles including state transport corporation buses. While state transport minister Diwakar Raote had pegged the losses to the MSRTC to Rs 50 crore over past few days, In Aurangabad the Industries Association condemned the Maratha agitation for vandalism in Valunj industrial area. The all round criticism put the Maratha agitators on back foot.