Millions of people from across Maharashtra came together to protest, and initially no harm was done to any public or private property until January 2017, when a few instances of violence were noted.

At the time, the Bombay High Court had recently upheld the reservations granted to the Maratha community, but also mentioned that the percentage of quotas given wasn't justifiable.

[6] A large percentage of Marathis are farmers, and the community had been severely affected by droughts and degraded arable land.

The Maratha Kranti Morcha carried out its largest silent protest in the financial capital of India, Mumbai, on 9 August 2017.

[41] During the silent protest, leaders from the Maratha community also warned that they would switch to violent tactics after two weeks if state authorities did not act on their demands.

[43] Road blockades (chakka jams) were held on 31 January 2017 to gather momentum and mount pressure on the state government before the community’s silent rally scheduled in Mumbai on 6 March 2017.

Kakasaheb Shinde-Patil, aged 28 committed suicide by jumping into the Godavari River during agitations at the village of Kaygaon Toka in the [[Gangapur, Maharashtra |Gangapur]] taluka of Aurangabad District.