Mumbai: The Matang community protested near BMC headquarters and outside Azad Maidan Tuesday to demand the creation of a separate sub-category with reservation for them within the Scheduled Caste (SC) reservation quota.They claimed that despite the community being the second-largest among the SCs, the quota benefit does not reach them and is mostly enjoyed by the stronger sub-community in the SC category.The protesters blocked the road near BMC headquarters, affecting traffic flow on Tuesday. Heavy police bandobast was deployed to control the crowd as more than a thousand protesters converged from across the state.Reacting to the morcha, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “Our position is to unanimously undertake sub-classification within the Scheduled Castes, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgement, so that those who have not benefited from reservation so far can also avail themselves of its benefits.”BJP MLC Amit Gorkhe and MLA Sunil Kamble along with other leaders represented the community during discussions with govt. It was stated that minister Girish Mahajan was appointed by govt to talk with the community leaders and they had two rounds of talks till Tuesday night but were unable to reach any conclusion. The protesters demanded written assurance from govt. They said it was a one-day protest, but they would decide the further course of action based on the outcome of the meeting with govt. Ganpat Bhise from Parbhani, who led a group of protesters, said, “We demand two sub-divisions among the SC category, Deprived SC and Other SC, and the present reservation divided between the two, for the benefit of the Matang community.” The protesters said the community alleged that most benefits are cornered by relatively stronger communities within the 59 sub-castes that come under the Scheduled Castes category.Protester Ashok Uphade said no IAS or IPS officer has emerged from the community. “We are not demanding a separate caste classification, just a sub-category promising our community reservation in education and jobs from existing SC reservation quota.”
