Dhangar activist stops drinking water as hunger strike over quota enters 15th day

Members of a Dhangar outfit in India have entered the 15th day of their hunger strike, demanding inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes category. The Dhangars are currently receiving a 3.5% reservation under the Nomadic Tribe category. The chief minister has called a meeting with community representatives to address the issue. In a separate protest, the Other Backward Classes community is seeking a written assurance that their reservation benefits will not be shared with the Marathas.

The indefinite hunger strike by two members of a Dhangar outfit, demanding the community’s inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category, entered 15th day on Wednesday. Their recognition as ST would double the percentage of reservation from the current 3.5% Dhangars are getting under the Nomadic Tribe (C) category.

Dhangar activist stops drinking water as hunger strike over quota enters 15th day

Taking cognisance of the issue, chief minister Eknath Shinde has called a meeting with the representatives of the community on Thursday afternoon at Sahyadri guest house in Malabar Hill.

On Wednesday, one of the members, Suresh Bandgar, declared to stop drinking water while the other activist, Annasaheb Rupnavar, had already been admitted to Ahmednagar civil hospital after his health deteriorated on Saturday.

Bandgar said BJP minister Girish Mahajan had sought two days’ time to take a call on their demand, but he had done nothing in the last four days.

“On the 11th day (September 16) of the hunger strike, Mahajan met us and assured us to hold a meeting in the next two days to take a decision, but he must have forgotten about it after that. “Now, I have decided to stop drinking water,” Bandgar told reporters in Ahmednagar’s Chaundi, the site of protest. “If the government has decided to ignore Dhangars, then what can we do?”

On Wednesday, the community staged agitations in Baramati, Parbhani and Khandala among other places across the state. A roadblock on the Pune-Satara highway inconvenienced commuters and police had to intervene to disperse the protesters.

Despite attempts, Mahajan could not be reached for his comments.

Bandgar and Rupnavar are members of Yashwant Sena that has been raising the demand for years.

“Rupnavar, who is in hospital, has refused to take meals and is surviving on IV (intravenous) fluid,” Bharat Sonnar, Yashwant Sena chief, said. “His health is bound to worsen if he doesn’t eat anything.”

Meanwhile, the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community continued their protest seeking a written assurance from the state government that their reservation benefits would not be shared with Marathas. It was the 12th day of their relay hunger strike at Samvidhan Chowk in Nagpur. “We will continue our agitation if the government does not fulfill our demand,” Baban Taywade, OBC Mahasangh chief, said.