Maratha Kranti morcha: Mumbai bike rally on 6 November aims to press for reservation demands

After holding more than 28 silent morchas across Maharashtra, now the Maratha Kranti silent morcha has entered Mumbai, the country’s commercial capital. But this time to warm up the Marathas, the organisers have planned a bike rally that will take place this Sunday (6 November) from KJ Somaiya ground, Ghatkopar. The rally will start from Ghatkopar at 9 am and end up at Azad Maidan, CST. This is the first time in Mumbai that any street activity is taking place in the form of a bike rally and more than 10,000 bikers participated in it, claimed the organiser. The rally will also see bikers from Thane district. Talking to Firstpost, one of the organisers, Viren Pawar, said that it is a warm-up rally, adding that a large number of Maratha supporters have been regularly asking for a Maratha morcha in Mumbai. He further said that on 14 December, there will be a huge morcha at Nagpur during the winter session of the state legislature. Pawar said that if their demands were not agreed upon by the state government, then they will be prepared for a grand silent morcha in Mumbai. [caption id=“attachment_3025950” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] The bike rally starts on Sunday at 9 am from Somaiya ground and will proceed to Sion Circle, Matunga Circle, Dadar, Lalbaug, Byculla and end at CST. Pawar mentioned that they aren’t using any flyover and that it will be held without disturbing Mumbai traffic, in the same way the silent bike rally was held in Mumbai. Like other morchas, this too will follow the same rules of the silent march wherein girls walk first, followed by women, senior citizens, men and political leaders in last phase of rally, Pawar added. Pawar also said that those supporting demands like reservation for the Maratha community in education and jobs, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission, the amendment in the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and bringing to justice the accused of Kopardi incident will happen within three months. Like the silent morcha, there will be no slogan or speech and will help the police. A senior police official told Firstpost that similar to the earlier morcha there is no pressure on them. To ensure large number of participants in the bike rally, organisers are using social media to reach bikers. The first silent march took place at Aurangabad on 9 August, and the next morcha was in Delhi on 20 November. The convenor of the Delhi Morcha is handing the demands of the community to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The next morcha will take place at Nagpur on 14 December. Talking to Firstpost, Congress MLA Nitesh Rane alleged that after BJP-led government came to power in Maharashtra, the Maratha community has been facing a lot of injustice. “CM Fadnavis is not serious in giving reservation to the Maratha community. How many silent morchas do they want,” he questioned. “They are just wasting time and patience of the community, which is now silent. If anything happens, then the CM is responsible,” said Rane, adding “I categorically said that CM Fadnavis is only sitting on the demands of Maratha Morcha.” Talking to Firstpost, CM Devendra Fadnavis said that they have received the demands of the Maratha community. “We are already increasing the creamy layer limit upto Rs 6 lakhs. It will benefit students who are economically backward. My government will give reservation to the Maratha community. The Opposition is doing petty politics. What have they done in the last 15 years when they were in power,” asked CM Fadnavis.