The agitating Maratha leaders have refused to talk to
the chief minister, convinced that he misrepresented their
case in the high court. On July 22, Fadnavis was even forced
to cancel his annual visit to Pandharpur, a temple town he
unfailingly visits for the Ashadhi Ekadashi festival. He said
he had reports that Maratha protesters were planning to trig-
ger a stampede amid the 1 million pilgrims who congregate
there for the occasion. But in making the ‘intelligence report’
public, the chief minister possibly ended up further annoy-
ing the Maratha community. Earlier, on July 9, Fadnavis had
stated that 16 per cent posts in the mega recruitment drive
for 72,000 government jobs would be retained as ‘backlog’,
awaiting the high court’s decision on the quota for Marathas.
This too backfired. Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil is the
only senior BJP leader to defend Fadnavis publicly. State BJP
chief Raosaheb Danve has chosen to stay mysteriously aloof.
Meanwhile, though they were there at the July 28 all-party
meeting, the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena convened meet-
ings on July 30 to discuss strategies to corner Fadnavis. “The
government should ann ounce reservations for the Marathas
without any delay,” said Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. State
Congress president
Ashok Chavan called
for governor Vidyas-
agar Rao’s “immediate
intervention” as the
“situation was slipping
out of the CM’s hands”.
Legally, there is
little that Fadnavis can
do at this juncture, but
analysts say his failure
to take everyone on
board has contributed
to his isolation. He constituted the Maharashtra Backward
Class Commission in 2015, as per the Bombay HC’s direc-
tions, to determine whether the Marathas constitute a back-
ward community. He even assured the Marathas he would
introduce quotas as soon as the commission submits its report
(subject to the HC’s endorsement).
But the commission has been tardy. Its original chair-
man, Justice Sambhajirao Mhase, passed away last year.
And the incumbent chair, Justice M.G. Gaikwad, has said he
will submit his report by September. Fadnavis is hoping to
nudge things along by offering additional staff and infra-
structure to finish the work before end August. His critics
say all this should have been done much earlier.
There is other unfinished business too. Fadnavis had
promised to build hostels for Maratha students in all 38
districts, but work has started on just two, in Kolhapur
and Pune. He also offered to pay 50 per cent of the fees for
Maratha students, but most colleges have refused admission
without full payment in advance. Without a solution, Fadna-
vis appears to be floundering. n
To counter charges of a rising crime graph,
the CM goes for a massive police reshuffleHome
Affairs
MAHARASHTRAI
n an unprecedented police reshuffle on July 28, 120
Maharashtra IPS officers were transferred. The
move, by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, fol-
lows rising criticism of the deteriorating law and order
situation in the state. But the transfers themselves—of
four commissioners, six inspector generals and 19 ad-
ditional commissioners—are being seen as ‘rewards’ for
favoured officers and ‘punishment’ for others.
For instance, Suvez Haque, who was in charge of
Pune rural during the riots in Koregaon-Bhima follow-
ing the January 1 attack on Dalits, has been moved as
DIG, Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS), in Mumbai. Many
see the posting as a reward as the officer’s investigation
of the riots had pointed to the alleged involvement of
ultra-Left groups. Ravindra Kadam, a joint commis-
sioner in Pune who was responsible for arresting five
Left activists after the riots, however, was shunted off
to a less sought-after post in Nagpur. Sources say he
has been punished for arresting the Bank of Maha-
rashtra chairman Ravindra Marathe (in May) without
informing Fadnavis beforehand. Another officer, San-
jay Kumar, who had failed to track down the assassins
of activists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare
as the CID chief in Pune, has been rewarded—he’s NaviHOT SEAT
New Mumbai police chief
Subodh Jaiswal (second
from right) sees off Datta
Padsalgikar, who took over
as Maharashtra DGPTHE FURY OF
THE MARATHAS
HAS CONFINED
FADNAVIS TO HIS
MANTRALAYA
OFFICE
KUNAL PATIL/GETTY IMAGESAUGUST 13, 2018 INDIA TODAY 15