Jarange-Patil gives govt 10 days to give Marathas OBC reservation

“Our main demand is the issuance of Kunbi certificates to all Marathas to give them the benefits of OBC reservation,” said Jarange-Patil. “We will accept a special category for Maratha reservation but it should not be above the existing reservation limit of 50 percent.” One of the grounds on which the Maratha quota was set aside by the Supreme Court in May 2021 was that it took the state’s reservation limit beyond 50 percent

MUMBAI: The Maratha reservation issue is back to haunt the Eknath Shinde-led alliance government. Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Saturday held a massive show of strength of the community and gave a ten-day ultimatum to the government to include all Marathas in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category for reservation in government jobs and education. The alliance government did not immediately react to the demand but it has earlier ruled out this inclusion.

While announcing that the future course of action would be declared on October 22, Jarange-Patil dramatically declared that the Marathas would either take out a victory march or his funeral procession. “We cannot tolerate any more delay,” he said. (HT PHOTO)

“Our main demand is the issuance of Kunbi certificates to all Marathas to give them the benefits of OBC reservation,” said Jarange-Patil. “We will accept a special category for Maratha reservation but it should not be above the existing reservation limit of 50 percent.” One of the grounds on which the Maratha quota was set aside by the Supreme Court in May 2021 was that it took the state’s reservation limit beyond 50 percent.

While announcing that the future course of action would be declared on October 22, Jarange-Patil dramatically declared that the Marathas would either take out a victory march or his funeral procession. “We cannot tolerate any more delay,” he said.

The activist also cautioned leaders of the ruling alliance to control their colleagues who were speaking out against Maratha reservation and alleged a conspiracy. “The CM and his two deputy chief ministers are provoking OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal to speak against our rally and reservation,” he said. “They want violence so that the reservation issue can be set aside.”

Jarange-Patil hit out at Bhujbal for questioning the expenditure on his rally. “The Maratha community from 123 villages has contributed,” he said. “Ajit Pawar should control Bhujbal, otherwise I will not spare him.” He also alleged that Advocate Gunaratna Sadavarte, who opposed Maratha reservation in court, was a puppet of Devendra Fadnavis.

Jarange-Patil sprang into the limelight following his 17-day hunger strike from August 29 to September 14 at Antarvali Sarati village in Jalna district. The agitation grabbed public attention due to the police lathi charge on the Maratha crowd. The videos of the lathi charge evoked strong reactions, forcing the government to react. Shinde himself met Jarange-Patil and announced steps to consider his demand, mainly to give Kunbi certificates (a sub-caste of the Maratha community which is included in the OBC category) to those Marathas who could prove they were categorised as Kunbis before independence.

As the activist’s one-month deadline to the government ended on Saturday, Jarange-Patil organised a grand rally at Antaravli Sarati village to remind the government that it only had a 10-day grace period left. Lakhs of people turned up, leading him to declare triumphantly that the crowd was “a slap on the face” of people who said the Maratha community could never unite.

“A government-appointed committee has 5,000 pages of proof on the Kunbi background of Marathas,” he claimed. “I now request Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Shinde to take the issue seriously and give Kunbi certificates and OBC reservation to the whole community”. The activist also demanded that the government conduct surveys of the OBC population every decade and remove those castes from the OBC list that had prospered after getting the benefits of reservation. He also made a demand that the Dalit accused in the Kopardi rape case of 2016 be hanged as soon as possible.

Jarange-Patil accused Fadnavis of playing anti-Maratha politics. “But he should not forget that the BJP won 106 MLAs in the assembly elections due to Maratha support,” he said. PM Modi should intervene to resolve the reservation issue. If this happens, we will go to Delhi to felicitate him. But if we don’t get OBC reservation, the government will be responsible for whatever happens next.”

Jarange-Patil’s demands are tricky for the government to handle. The existing castes in the OBCs, including Kunbis, are strongly opposed to the demand to give OBC certificates to all Marathas, as it would reduce their share significantly. While the Maratha community, which claims to be around 30 percent of the state population, is politically dominant, the OBCs are an equally influential political group that form a strong support base for the BJP. The government has already assured OBC community outfits that it will not include the entire Maratha community in the OBC category and will create a separate category—something the Supreme Court has already struck down in May 2021.

OBC organisations responded angrily to Jarange-Patil’s ultimatum. “We oppose the demand of OBC reservation to all Marathas,” said Baban Taywade, president of the Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh. “If the state government takes any step towards fulfilling it, the OBC community will organise a fivefold bigger rally at Nagpur to oppose it.”