State calls OBC representatives for talks; activist on hunger strike hospitalised

The Maharashtra government has invited representatives from the OBC and Kunbi communities for a discussion on their reservation demands, as the hunger strike by OBC activist Ravindra Tonge enters its 12th day. The OBC and Kunbi communities are demanding that their reservation benefits should not be shared with the Marathas. Tonge's health has deteriorated and he has been admitted to a hospital, but he has declared that he will continue the hunger strike from there. Leaders from the OBC and Kunbi communities have deferred an indefinite hunger strike they had planned after receiving the government's invitation for talks.

As the indefinite hunger strike by Other Backward Class (OBC) activist Ravindra Tonge entered 12th day on Friday, the state government invited representatives from the OBC and Kunbi communities for a discussion on their demand that their reservation benefits should not be shared with Marathas.

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The meeting at Malabar Hill’s Sahyadri guest house on September 29 will be attended by chief minister Eknath Shinde and both his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar other than OBC welfare minister Atul Save, people aware of the development said.

Meanwhile, Tonge’s health deteriorated on Friday, and he was admitted to the local government hospital in Chandrapur. “His blood pressure dropped, and he was advised to take immediate treatment. He agreed to it but declared to continue the hunger strike from the hospital,” a doctor said.

Leaders from the two communities, who have been on a relay hunger strike at Samvidhan Chowk in Nagpur since September 10, announced to defer an indefinite hunger strike they had planned to begin on September 25 after the government invitation for talks.

OBC and Kunbi communities have been demanding an assurance in writing from the state government that their existing quota will remain intact while giving reservation to the Maratha or any other community. They are also demanding a caste-based census on the lines of Bihar. Their representatives didn’t budge even after an assurance by Fadnavis and Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on September 16.

The unrest in the communities began after Manoj Jarange-Patil, a Maratha activist, went on a hunger strike for 14 days in Jalna and later declared to continue agitation until the state issues Kunbi certificates to all the Marathas without insisting on genealogical records. Kunbi community is a sub-caste of Marathas which gets the benefit under OBC category.