Maharashtra: Quota suicide poses new challenge for Eknath Shinde Govt

MUMBAI: In a development that puts further pressure on the Maharashtra government, a 45-year-old man from the Maratha community died by suicide demanding reservations for Marathas. Sunil Kavle, who hanged himself from a flyover in Mumbai, left a three-page suicide note stating that he was ending his life seeking Maratha reservations.

Kavle, a Maratha activist from Jalna, had been involved in protests seeking reservations for the Marathas.

Kavle’s death comes 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.


As Maratha leaders visited Kavle's family in Jalna, the family members said that the government should honour Kavle’s last wish and provide reservations to the Marathas.

Jarange Patil said that Kavle’s ‘sacrifice’ will not be forgotten. “The (state) government is responsible for this. There is a view within the community that the government is deliberately not giving Marathas reservations. The government should not keep the Marathas waiting but ensure that they are given reservations soon. I am imploring the Maratha youth to not take any drastic steps. We will have a peaceful stir but we will get reservation for our community,” said Jarange Patil in Mumbai. In September, another Maratha youth ended his life seeking quota.

Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule blamed the government for Kavle’s death and described it as “insensitive”. “They are a totally insensitive government. Under this triple engine government, they have not been able to give reservation to the Dhangar (shepherd) community, Muslims, Lingayats and Marathas,” Sule said.