Jarange-Patil, the face of a ‘faceless’ agitation by Marathas

Hunger strikes, agitations and foot marches are not new for the Maratha activist, who has staged 35 protests since 2011. He became a familiar face in central Maharashtra after a morcha at the divisional commissioner’s office in 2014. In 2021, he held a sit-in protest at Sasht Pimpalgaon in Jalna, and later a six-day hunger strike. Before that, he had protested in Gorigandhari village for financial assistance to the families of community members who died in agitations in 2016-17

MUMBAI: The faceless agitation launched in August 2016 by the Maratha community for a slice of the reservation pie has now got a face in Manoj Jarange-Patil. The 41-year-old farmer, whose latest rally on Saturday was attended by lakhs of community members, is clearly the man of the moment.

Jarange-Patil, the face of a ‘faceless’ agitation by Marathas

Hunger strikes, agitations and foot marches are not new for the Maratha activist, who has staged 35 protests since 2011. He became a familiar face in central Maharashtra after a morcha at the divisional commissioner’s office in 2014. In 2021, he held a sit-in protest at Sasht Pimpalgaon in Jalna, and later a six-day hunger strike. Before that, he had protested in Gorigandhari village for financial assistance to the families of community members who died in agitations in 2016-17.

The September 1 lathi charge on his supporters was what really speeded up the momentum of the reservation movement, as panicky politicians rushed to placate him. It gave a new lease of life to the quota movement that had almost fizzled out after the Supreme Court quashed it in May 2021. The Maratha community was earlier unable to build up pressure on the government despite projecting leaders like Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, a direct descendent of Shivaji Maharaj, as the face of the movement. It was Jarange-Patil and his calculated strategy that made the government capitulate.

The government involved more than six ministers and a union minister in the negotiations with Jarange-Patil to persuade him to withdraw his hunger strike. The pressure on it was tremendous due to the deteriorating health of the activist and the tremendous response he was getting, with a crowd of over 50,000 on any given day.

“The crowd support was such that Jarange-Patil would dictate terms and we had no option but to buckle,” said a former minister who was part of the negotiation team. “His demands would change daily. He would be adamant about impractical things, making it difficult to negotiate with him. Often, we would take the leader whom he consulted in confidence to arrive at an amicable solution.”

Chief minister Eknath Shinde had to personally visit the activist on the 17th day of his hunger strike to convince him to call it off. Before that, the government had issued a GR for the issuance of Kunbi certificates to Marathas, and had constituted a committee to simplify the certification process. The government had to agree to the 30-day timeline set for the committee report despite knowing that it would not be sufficient.

A Class XII matriculate, Jarange-Patil was so passionate about his cause that he sold half his four acres of land to raise money for the protests. He has four children, wife, three brothers and parents to look after but never took up a job that would give him a stable income.

Although the activist claims his protest is apolitical, he was associated with the Congress as its district youth president until he relinquished the post in 2004. “It is difficult to believe that he does not have the backing of a political party,” said Appasaheb Kadam, former vice-president of the Shetkari Sangathan from Jalna. “I do not believe that it is possible to gather such a huge crowd and accumulate resources for such a huge protest.”

Virendra Pawar of the Maratha Mahasangh said that almost all Maratha organisations were supporting Jarange-Patil. “He is undoubtedly the face of the movement now,” he said. “The support he received for his rally on Saturday was unprecedented—none of our rallies, including 58 silent marches, received such a response in the past.”

Balasaheb Sarate Patil, a Maratha reservation petitioner, said that although Jarange-Patil’s agitation was limited to the Marathas of Central Maharashtra, the community across the state had derived strength from it. “It is only because of his protest that the state government filed a curative petition in court after delaying it for over a year,” he said.