Mumbai: A meeting of 8 ministers of the ruling alliance on Wednesday turned into a contentious war of words after chief minister Eknath Shinde chastised his ministerial colleagues for speaking in different voices over Maratha reservation.
The meeting, held immediately after the weekly cabinet meeting, was attended by Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Dhananjay Munde, Hasan Mushrif from the NCP-Ajit faction, Chandrakant Patil and Devendra Fadnavis from the BJP, and Shiv Sena Shinde faction’s Shambhuraj Desai and the CM, and it mainly addressed the public spat between Bhujbal and Desai.
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Chhagan Bhujbal, an OBC himself, has been speaking out vociferously against Maratha reservation, expressing fears that including them within the Kunbi fold would eat into the OBC pie of reservation. At a public meeting in Beed on Monday, Bhujbal had spoken about the Shinde government’s move to certify Marathas as Kunbi—a sub caste of the Marathas from the time of the Nizam, the Kunbis are counted as Other Backward Communities and get reservation benefits. “This,” said Bhujbal, “gives a backdoor entry to the Marathas under the OBC quota.” OBC reservation in Maharashtra is capped at 27 per cent. The OBCs were being targeted in Maharashtra, he said, referring to the torching of the homes of two OBC leaders by Maratha agitators in Beed last month. The government, he said sharpening his attack, should not take the OBCs for granted. The OBC community in the state, already restive over the Maratha demand, appears to have found a voice in Bhujbal, and over the last two days a string of OBC leaders camped in Mumbai to meet him. On Wednesday, another prominent OBC face, BJP leader Pankaja Munde, too waded into the controversy and spoke at Beed to lend her weight to the state-wide OBC protests that are slated after Diwali.
For Shinde, this couldn’t have come at a worse time. He has just managed to pacify the Marathas, bought time to resolve a thorny issue that can play a crucial role in the elections next year. But now with members of his own alliance speaking up against Maratha reservation there is the danger of alienating the equally powerful OBC communities. Worse, it creates the impression of disunity within his government. With the OBCs in the state mobilising to stare down the government, there is also the fear of disruption of law and order in the state. At Wednesday’s meeting, Shinde was particularly riled as he had told Bhujbal not to take such a hardened stance against Maratha reservation and pointed to Bhujbal’s speech where he had claimed that leaders who were suppressing the rights of the OBCs would soon be thrown out of the government.
{{/usCountry}}For Shinde, this couldn’t have come at a worse time. He has just managed to pacify the Marathas, bought time to resolve a thorny issue that can play a crucial role in the elections next year. But now with members of his own alliance speaking up against Maratha reservation there is the danger of alienating the equally powerful OBC communities. Worse, it creates the impression of disunity within his government. With the OBCs in the state mobilising to stare down the government, there is also the fear of disruption of law and order in the state. At Wednesday’s meeting, Shinde was particularly riled as he had told Bhujbal not to take such a hardened stance against Maratha reservation and pointed to Bhujbal’s speech where he had claimed that leaders who were suppressing the rights of the OBCs would soon be thrown out of the government.
{{/usCountry}}The day after Bhujbal’s speech in Beed, Shiv Sena minister Shambhuraj Desai had publicly attacked the food and civil supplies minister saying his comments could foment rift within communities in the state.
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According to a senior minister who was present at the meeting at Mantralaya, Shinde reportedly said the conflicting signals being sent out by his ministers were ruining the atmosphere in the state during the festive season. He requested the ministers to restrain from giving contradictory statements until the Shinde committee report on Maratha reservation was submitted to the government.
Bhujbal responded to the CM’s request saying when homes of OBC leaders were set on fire during Jarange-Patil’s agitation, the police had failed to act against the agitators. “We are not against the inclusion of genuine Marathas, but Kunbi certificates should not be issued without thorough verification of the OBCs,” he reportedly said at the meeting.
Buoyed by Bhujbal’s support, Sachin Rajurkar, general secretary of the Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh, said that on the one hand Marathas would be included as OBCs on account of being counted as Kunbis, on the other hand Maratha leaders had also moved court challenging OBC reservations. “These is a systematic attempt to suppress our reservation and this is the time to rise against it unitedly. Bhujbal saheb’s remarks have given us political strength and the protest will be intensified after Diwali,” he said.