Mumbai, 5/11: Maharashtra is in turmoil. The Maratha quota issue has been exhumed before two crucial elections—the Assembly and the Lok Sabha—and the result has been predictable. Street protests raged for days, a politician’s house was set afire, and a couple of demonstrators died by suicide. Caught flat-footed, the ruling government came up with garden-variety warnings and pleas.
Though the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP coalition government has bought time till January, it is only a temporary reprieve. The issue could explode again next year if the protesting community doesn’t get what it wants, and it will have dire political consequences.
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