The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The demand for Maratha reservation in Maharashtra escalated on October 26, after a 25-year-old person allegedly took his own life in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district, while activists from the community vandalised vehicles belonging to a Mumbai-based lawyer who had been opposing Maratha reservation.
According to the Hindu, the police said that the deceased has been identified as one Krishna Kalyankar, and his dead body was found in a farm in Hingoli’s Kalamnuri tehsil.
He left a note saying that he took his own life to expedite Maratha reservation in jobs and education.
According to the Times of India, two more suicides have been reported on the same day, which Maratha community members claim are linked to the quota demand. However, the police have not yet confirmed whether these suicides were indeed in protest against the delay in reservations.
Several members of the community have taken their lives during the Maratha quota agitation.
On October 24, a 45-year-old man died by suicide demanding reservations for the community. Sunil Kavle, a Maratha activist from Jalna, left a three-page suicide note stating that he was ending his life seeking reservations for his community before hanging himself from a a flyover in Mumbai.
His death came just five days before the deadline set by Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil who has threatened a wider agitation if the Marathas were not recognised as OBCs by October 24.
Patil, who is on a hunger strike since August 29, has repeatedly urged restraint upon community members.
In a separate incident, three activists from the Maratha Kranti Morcha, a group leading the agitation, vandalised cars belonging to Mumbai-based lawyer Gunaratna Sadavarte, a vocal opponent of Maratha reservation. The newspaper cited sources saying that the vandals chanted pro-reservation slogans after damaging his property.
Sadavarte has demanded the immediate arrest of Jarange Patil, but the activist disclaimed any knowledge of the incident and urged community members to protest peacefully without resorting to violence, the daily reported.
Sadavarte has claimed that he and his family had been receiving death threats from quota agitators. “I will keep fight for the rights of the open category students till my last breath. I will not permit any divisions on the basis of caste. Let merit prevail.”
Speaking in Jalna, Jarange Patil said the Maratha community did not support any form of violence while carrying out its agitation.
“I am not even aware of this incident. I am merely fighting for the rights of poor Marathas. They have realised that no one, be it any political party or the government, stands with them in fighting for a quota,” said the activist.
If you know someone – friend or family member – at risk of suicide, please reach out to them. The Suicide Prevention India Foundation maintains a list of telephone numbers they can call to speak in confidence. Icall, a counselling service run by TISS, has maintained a crowdsourced list of therapists across the country. You could also take them to the nearest hospital.