Thane: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said his government was committed to giving reservations in jobs and education to the Maratha community and urged youth not to take extreme steps like suicide.
Think of your parents, family, kin, children and friends, he said in his emotional anti-suicide message while talking to reporters at a Navratri event in Bhavani Chowk here.
On October 19, the body of Maratha quota activist Sunil Kawale was found hanging from a lamp post along a flyover in Mumbai’s Bandra area. He had left behind a suicide note seeking quota for the community.
“The Maharashtra government is trying its best to give the Maratha community reservation within the framework of law. The state government has filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court, which was accepted on October 13. Do not take an extreme step like suicide. Such acts are full of sorrow and painful,” the CM said.
A panel under retired judge Sandeep Shinde is studying old records in Marathwada as part of the move to give Kunbi OBC certificates to members of the Maratha community, he added.
“I too am the son of a farmer and am committed to ensuring the Maratha community gets reservation,” Shinde asserted.