Maharashtra polls: Jarange-Patil looks to OBCs, Muslims, Dalits for support

Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil seeks support from OBCs, Muslims, and Dalits for assembly elections, urging consensus on candidate selection

MUMBAI: As he met political aspirants at his office in Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna on Thursday, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil revealed his future plans of seeking the support from other communities such as the other backward classes (OBC), Muslims and Dalits for the assembly elections. With consummate politician-speak, he said it would be impossible to win the elections in the name of just one caste.

Maratha reservation quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil. (HT FILE)

He told the hopefuls from various constituencies to arrive at a consensus and ensure only one candidate is fielded from the Maratha front, and that the final decision will be taken on the last day of filing nominations – October 29.

The activist said he would soon engage in dialogues with nominees from other communities. “I have never been averse to other castes and communities, including OBCs. I will speak to the candidates from communities including Dalits, Muslims and micro OBCs over the next three days,” he said.

People close to the activist that HT spoke to said Jarange-Patil’s move has unsettled leaders of several Maratha outfits. While some have opposed the idea, others have expressed their wish to field their candidates. Aaba Patil is one such leader. Once one of the coordinators of Maratha Thok Kranti Morcha in 2016-17, who joined the Rashtriya Maratha Party, he said that he would field 100 candidates.

A member of the community close to the quota activist told HT, “Fielding more Maratha candidates would ultimately defeat the purpose of fair representation of the community in the assembly. There is a need for collective stand by all the organisations, which may happen over the next three to four days.”

Reacting to the quota activist’s move, OBC reservation activist Navnath Waghmare -- who has become the voice of the community, after Jarange-Patil’s insistence that Marathas be considered in the OBC Kunbi category to benefit reservation in jobs and education -- said, “Jarange-Patil is now speaking the language of a politician, but OBCs, Muslims and other communities have realised that he has used them in the Lok Sabha elections without any reciprocation. The Maratha community got support from Muslims and Dalits; they did not support their candidates like Prakash Ambedkar and Imtiaz Jaleel.”

Noted Dalit writer and one of the founder members of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Laxman Mane said, “If he were serious about taking other communities along, Jarange-Patil should have done that from the beginning. This is hypocritical.”