Maratha quotas: Jarange-Patil starts ‘last’ hunger strike with one chance to MahaYuti govt

Jalna: Terming it as his final agitation for Maratha reservation, Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil launched his 6th indefinite hunger strike in 12 months on Tuesday, saying he was giving “one more chance” to the MahaYuti government to fulfil its commitments.

Jarange-Patil went off food from midnight surrounded by hordes of his anxious supporters in Antarvali-Sarati village even as the state celebrated the concluding day of the 11-day-long Ganeshotsav festival with gusto.

This is also billed as the ‘last’ agitation by Jarange-Patil as Maharashtra prepares for the much-anticipated state Assembly elections, likely to be announced shortly.

Taking no chances, the frail but determined Jarange-Patil called upon the government to implement the draft notification of ‘sage-soyare’ (family bloodline) to widen the scope of Maratha quotas and to issue Kunbi Caste Certificates, among other things.

“What the Maratha community is asking for, they are not giving…” rued Jarange-Patil, speaking to the media this afternoon in the marquee, which has virtually been his second home for the past year.

He also slammed the ruling MahaYuti allies - Bharatiya Janata Party’s Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Nationalist Congress Party’s Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who is a prominent OBC leader – for being insensitive to the cause of the Marathas.

“They are both casteist people… If the Marathas don’t get the reservations as promised, we shall make the government suffer,” reiterated Jarange-Patil of his threats to ensure the defeat of MahaYuti candidates in the Assembly polls.

It may be recalled that the MahaYuti had suffered in several regions in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections owing to the Maratha quota demands and the OBCs’ tough resistance to it, posing a huge challenge to the Shiv Sena Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is also a Maratha.

Last year, the state government carried out a massive exercise to scan through piles of Kunbi-Maratha and Maratha-Kunbi records and recovered several lakhs of entries.

Claiming that his stance was vindicated, Jarange-Patil said that Kunbis, falling under OBCs, comprise a sub-caste of Maratha and hence entitled to the quota privileges.

Later, in February 2024, the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Bill, 2024, was passed unanimously in the state legislature paving the way for a 10 per cent quota.

However, Jarange-Patil’s demands to declare Maratha as ‘Kunbis’ and carve them a separate quota from the OBCs – stoutly opposed by Bhujbal and other OBCs groups – hangs fire.

“The government should issue a notification declaring that Kunbis and Marathas are the same, to simplify the issue,” declared Jarange-Patil.