Maratha Reservation Protest: Youth Ends Life Even As Jarange Patil Announces Week-long Statewide Tour

Mumbai: Yet another young man from the Maratha community has committed suicide in support of the quota demand, even as Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil announced a week-long statewide tour starting from November 15.

Adinath Govindrao Rakhode (27) from Ajarsonda village in the Aundha-Nagnath taluka of Hingoli district, located about 530 km from Mumbai, committed suicide by touching live electrical wires on Wednesday night. Rakhode, who had completed his graduation in science, was unemployed and was actively involved in the Maratha quota stir.

Grim note by youth

"I have been consistently following the news and have come to the conclusion that the Maratha community won't get reservation. I've completed my graduation, yet I've not been able to find a job. My community doesn't get justice. Is it my crime that I was born in the Maratha community? I'm helpless and hence ending my life tonight..." Rakhode wrote in the note he left behind.

Neighbours rushed him to a nearby primary health center, but doctors declared him dead upon arrival. He is survived by his parents, wife, and a daughter. He was actively participating in the Maratha agitation but had been disturbed for the past few days, feeling that the community won't be able to secure a quota. He was alone at home on Wednesday night when he took his own life, the police said.

In another incident, Sanjay Sainath Sonawane (39) from Deogao Rangari in Kannad taluka of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district also committed suicide by consuming insecticide and then jumping into a well on his farm on Wednesday. He took this extreme step out of frustration due to the delay in the Maratha quota, as stated by Maratha activists.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Maratha quota stir, Manoj Jarange-Patil, who announced the statewide tour, stated that he would appeal to the youngsters from the community not to commit suicide at every place he visits during the tour.