Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil warned the Devendra Fadnavis led government that he will not leave Mumbai until his “constitutionally valid” demand for reservation to the Maratha community is accepted, PTI reported. He began his indefinite hunger strike on August 29 and has entered the third day of protest.
He said government possesses records indicating that Kunbis and Marathas belong to the same caste while mentioning people from the Maratha community reached Mumbai to take part in the agitation with anguish and requested Maharashtra government not to view them as a “crowd”.
“From tomorrow, I will stop taking water as the government is not accepting the demands. But I am not going back till the quota demand is met. We will get Marathas reservation under the OBC category no matter what. Our demand is constitutionally valid. The government has records of 58 lakh Marathas as Kunbis. Marathas will come to Mumbai (for the agitation) as and when they get time,” the 43-year-old activist stated, adding, “the government shouldn’t consider them as crowd. They have come here with a lot of pain”.
Jarange said food from supply trucks should be given to the protesters at various places like Vashi, Chembur, Sewri, Masjid Bunder. He told his supporters to keep their vehicles at specified parking slots and take train to reach Azad Maidan.
Jarange has been seeking a 10 percent reservation for Marathas and is pushing for them to be identified as Kunbis, an agricultural caste listed under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, which would make them eligible for quotas in government jobs and education. However, this move is facing opposition from OBC leaders, the report noted.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday questioned why the Maratha reservation issue has resurfaced, suggesting that Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should answer since he had resolved it previously.
In January 2024, Jarange’s march toward Mumbai was halted at Vashi in Navi Mumbai after the then Shinde-led Shiv Sena government assured that the reservation demands would be fulfilled.
In February last year, while Eknath Shinde was Chief Minister, the Maharashtra legislature held a special one-day session and unanimously approved a bill granting the Maratha community a 10 percent reservation in education and government jobs under the ‘Socially and Economically Backward Classes’ category. This reservation has since been contested in court.