Mumbai: Mantralaya, Maharashtra’s state secretariat, witnessed unprecedented scenes here on Friday.
Protest against the inclusion of a community in Scheduled Tribes category, deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal and three other legislators, including a BJP MP, jumped from the third floor. Luckily, they landed on a net — one floor below — which had been installed six years ago to prevent suicide attempts in the secretariat.
According to officials, none of the four ‘daredevils’ suffered any injury.
Zirwal, who is from the Ajit Pawar faction of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the three legislators were opposing the Dhangar community being included in ST category by the Eknath Shinde government.
They wanted their demand to be heard, hence decided to jump from the Mantralaya.
The government is learnt to be considering their demand to review the decision.
Videos showing the legislators climbing back into the building after landing on the net were shared widely on social media.
Watch the ‘action’ in a clip shared by ANI:
#WATCH | NCP leader Ajit Pawar faction MLA and deputy speaker Narhari Jhirwal jumped from the third floor of Maharashtra’s Mantralaya and got stuck on the safety net. Police present at the spot. Details awaited pic.twitter.com/nYoN0E8F16
— ANI (@ANI) October 4, 2024
Earlier in the day, some tribal MLAs held a protest in Mantralaya complex during a cabinet meeting attended by CM Shinde and deputy CMS Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis, among others.
Members of Dhangar community, which was under Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, have been agitating in Solapur district with a demand for inclusion in ST category. The protestors claim that their community is the same as Dhangads, which is listed as Scheduled Tribes in several states.
