Maratha quota stir: Mumbai Police issue notice to Jarange, ask him to vacate Azad Maidan
Mumbai (PTI): Mumbai Police on Tuesday issued a notice to activist Manoj Jarange and his team, asking them to vacate Azad Maidan in the city, where he is staging an indefinite hunger strike over the Maratha quota demand, officials said.
As the Maratha quota protesters violated pre-agitation conditions laid down by the police as per Bombay High Court's guidelines, the notice was issued to Jarange and his core team by the Azad Maidan police, an official said.
Jarange's hunger strike at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai over the demand for Maratha quota entered the fifth day on Tuesday.
The high court has asked his supporters to vacate all streets in the city by Tuesday noon and restore normalcy.
Noting that Mumbai was "literally paralysed" due to Maratha agitation, which has violated all conditions and brought the city to a standstill, the HC on Monday stated it was giving an "opportunity" to Jarange and protesters to ensure all streets are vacated and cleaned by Tuesday noon.
Jarange has been demanding inclusion of Marathas in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category for reservation benefits.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
