Manoj Jarange-Patil, new poster boy for Maratha quota agitation

Manoj Jarange-Patil, who started an indefinite hunger strike to revive the Maratha community's demand for reservation, has become the face of the agitation.

It was exactly 15 years ago that Manoj Jarange-Patil joined the movement seeking reservation for the Maratha community in government jobs and education. The activist from Shahgad in Jalna even sold 2.5 acres of his four-acre agricultural land to meet his daily expenses that arose out of his participation in marches and protests.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde with Manoj Jarange-Patil in Jalna district on Thursday. (PTI)

In the coming years, the agitation gained momentum and leaders such as Vinayak Mete shot to prominence. In 2016-17, lakhs of Maratha youths descended on streets responding to a call by Maratha Kranti Morcha, which has undertaken 57 silent marches so far.

But after the Supreme Court quashed the reservation given by the state government and rejected its review petition two years ago, the voices fell silent. Though the agitation continued without much noise and the resentment among Maratha youths grew, there was a time when the movement was faceless.

To revive the agitation, Jarange-Patil on August 29 began an indefinite hunger strike at his village, Ataravali-Sarate. On the fourth day, when a police team tried to forcibly admit him to a hospital, a clash broke out between the police and the activist’s supporters. After the lathi-charge and firing of teargas shells made the headlines, the hitherto unknown activist burst into the political limelight overnight.

Now, with his 17-day hunger strike, Jarange-Patil has become a household name across Maharashtra and a section of Maratha community leaders believes that he has filled the void created after the death of Mete in an accident. On Thursday, Jarange-Patil withdrews the strike after chief minister Eknath Shinde and other senior ministers met him at his protest site and assured him to fulfil his demand.

“There is no doubt that Jarange-Patil has become the face of the agitation for reservation. Our fight was almost dead after the SC verdict, but he is the one who has reignited the hope in the community,” Virendra Pawar, one of the conveners of Maratha Kranti Morcha, said.

The police lathi-charge on September 1 evoked strong reactions from the community across the state. Opposition leaders, including NCP president Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, and former chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan, visited the village and expressed their solidarity with Jaranage-Patil.

Virendra Pawar, who has been holding agitations in Mumbai and nearby areas, said, “This is the reason I will put up banners with a picture of Jarange-Patil outside Ganpati mandals across the city to remind people of the community’s struggle.”

Jarange-Patil’s first hunger strike over the quota issue was for 12 days in January 2021 when the entire Sasht-Pimpalgaon village in Jalna district participated in it. He then held a three-month agitation in the same village where hundreds joined him. The then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray invited Jarange-Patil for a meeting in Mumbai, after which the activist withdrew his protest.

Sanjiv Bhor Patil, an activist from the community, who held a protest at Shivneri Fort in Pune in February 2009 and the police resorted to lathi-charge, said the September 1 incident led to an eruption of anger that had been simmering in the community for years.

“Jarange-Patil has given the agitation a new lease of life, but sentiments do not work in the court of law. His demand of Kunbi certificates to all the Marathas doesn’t have a legal backing,” Patil said and added, “The only thing which the state government can do is to ask the backward classes commission to again prepare a report on social, economic and educational backwardness of the community.”

Mrudul Nile, professor in the department of civics and politics, University of Mumbai, believes that the hunger strike and the lathicharge has mobilised the community for the decades-old demand. “It will carry momentum for some time because other senior leaders are also making the same demand.”

But it remains to be seen if the demand can be accepted in the court of law because of an agitation, he said. “The community should work towards proving their social, economic and educational backwardness. It will happen only after the state backward classes commission is directed by the government to compile such data.”

Meanwhile, Marathi filmmaker Shivaji Doltade has announced a biopic, ‘Sangharshyoddha’, on Jarange-Patil’s struggle and actor Rohan Patil will play the lead role. The poster of the movie was released by Jarange-Patil in Jalna.

The activist originally hails from Beed district and has settled in Jalna district after marriage.