3 MPs including the Speaker jumped from the third floor of the Secretariat
October 4, 20242 Mins Read

International Desk: Three Members of Parliament (MP) including the Deputy Speaker of the state jumped from the Secretariat building of Maharashtra, India. No accidents occurred after the jump. Instead, he fell straight on a net. This net was installed in 2018 to prevent suicide in the secretariat.

MP

They jumped from the third floor of the building on Friday (October 4) at noon, reported Indian media NDTV.

Deputy Speaker Narhari Jirwal and three other tribal members of Parliament jumped from the third floor of the secretariat to protest against the Maharashtra state's demand to include the Dhangar group in the Scheduled Tribes (ST), NDTV reported.

According to the police, all three of them were trapped under the building. No one was hurt. They were safely rescued from the net.

The net was installed in 2018 as part of efforts to prevent suicides at the Secretariat. In the video shared on social media, three MPs were seen climbing down from the net and climbing back to the Secretariat building.

Assembly elections in Maharashtra at the end of this year. Prior to that, such an incident had given rise to widespread discussion in Maharashtra.

Dhangar people live in western Maharashtra and Marathwada region. For several years, they have been agitating for the recognition of the people from the Indian government. Last month, a leader of the Dhangar group warned Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde that if the demands are not met, they don't need Shinde either.

Yesterday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis among other cabinet officials held a meeting on Scheduled Tribes (ST). At that time, some tribal MPs protested in the secretariat complex. The Dhangar community is currently included in the Backward Classes (OBC) category. They have been agitating for a long time for inclusion in the ST category.