MUMBAI: Azad Maidan has become both a battlefield of resolve and a picture of squalor, as the Maratha quota agitation entered its third day on Sunday. Thousands of protesters, many of them farmers and students, continued their sit-in under the leadership of activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, enduring hunger, heavy rains and the absence of basic amenities in the heart of South Mumbai.
From early morning, chants of “Patil, Patil” echoed not just at the protest site but across Mumbai’s lifelines—local trains. Packed compartments from Vashi to Chembur carried demonstrators pouring into CSMT, where the ground and surrounding streets have turned into makeshift camps. By mid-morning, the area reeked of neglect: discarded food plates, banana peels, and empty water cans lay strewn across the Maidan and station approaches.
Community kitchens on wheels
What has sustained the protest, however, is the collective effort of Maratha families and organisations across Maharashtra. With shops, hotels and even medical stores around Azad Maidan shuttered for nearly four kilometres, essentials have come in convoys of trucks from Nanded, Beed, Latur, Pune and other districts.
Women in villages cooked bhakri, chutney and pickles, packed flour and rice, and dispatched them overnight to Mumbai. “Once our relatives learnt we had no food here, they began cooking in bulk and sending trucks every day,” said Vaibhav Zinjurke, 33, a farmer from Beed, who coordinated supplies from his village Ashti. “For breakfast, we manage with poha or whatever we can prepare quickly on stoves here. Lunch and dinner are from what our villages send us.”
By Sunday, at least 30 trucks laden with food were parked near the Maidan and station. Protesters cooked by torchlight on portable stoves set up along footpaths. “We’ve asked villages to send bigger blinkers so we can keep cooking at night,” said Vikas Patil, 28, a pharmacist from Nanded. “We’ll survive here as long as needed, because the city corporation has given us almost nothing.”
Foul water, unusable toilets
The absence of basic civic services has become the biggest grievance. Protesters alleged that water supplied by the BMC was foul-smelling and unfit even for bathing. “The stench was unbearable. We would rather not drink water at all,” said Tukaram Satpute, 42, a pharma marketing specialist from Sangli. Instead, protesters relied on bottled water sent from Pune and Maratha groups in Mumbai.
Toilets were another flashpoint. The BMC said it had set up 300 units in and around Azad Maidan, including 29 inside. But demonstrators said the facilities were filthy and unusable within a day. “They were emptied just once on Saturday, and after that, the stench was unbearable,” said Satpute.
With no proper bathing facilities, protesters washed on footpaths, at street corners or in makeshift tubs. The rains forced many to huddle beneath trucks, in theatre doorways or under shop awnings near CSMT. “It was dirty, but we had no choice—people even slept under vehicles to escape the rain,” said Sanjay Gaikwad, 54, from Navi Mumbai.
BMC’s defence
The BMC, however, maintained that it was working round the clock. A civic note said more than 800 sanitation staff had been deployed in shifts, spraying insecticides and distributing garbage bags to protesters. The Fire Brigade had set up floodlights, gravel was laid on waterlogged patches, and 25 drinking water tankers were stationed at key spots. “The corporation continues to appeal to protesters to hand over garbage in dustbin bags,” the note said.
Beyond Azad Maidan, the agitation has rattled South Mumbai’s daily life. Roads around CSMT remain congested, traffic diversions have slowed weekend commutes, and business activity has slumped. Retailers reported steep losses as footfalls vanished. “Weekend sales collapsed, meetings were postponed, and offices took a hit,” said Viren Shah, president of the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association. “This deadlock cannot continue. The government must intervene or the courts will have to step in, otherwise livelihoods will suffer irreversibly.”
For now, however, the crowds show no sign of leaving. Amid the stench, the rain and the hunger, the mood remains one of endurance. As one protester put it, “We will not move until our children have a secure future. Reservation is the only way.”