Protests over reservation for Marathas intensified in Maharashtra on Sunday as groups backing and opposing quotas for the dominant community dug in their heels, indicating that the deadlock over the fractious issue was nowhere close to resolution.
Four days after the state government proposed to grant quotas to a subset of the Maratha community, Manoj Jarange-Patil, who is leading the charge for quotas, announced that he had given up water and intravenous support, attempting to put even more pressure on
Protests over reservation for Marathas intensified in Maharashtra on Sunday as groups backing and opposing quotas for the dominant community dug in their heels, indicating that the deadlock over the fractious issue was nowhere close to resolution.
Four days after the state government proposed to grant quotas to a subset of the Maratha community, Manoj Jarange-Patil, who is leading the charge for quotas, announced that he had given up water and intravenous support, attempting to put even more pressure on the government to accept his demand of bringing the entire community under the other backward classes (OBC) umbrella.
But any such move was opposed by OBC groups and Kunbis — the subset of the Maratha community that is already classified as backward — who fear that the influential community that makes up roughly a third of the state’s population will eat into their share.
The government appeared caught between the two sets of demonstrations, and called for an all-party meeting on Monday — the first time the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena administration has sought to understand the views of opposition parties since the protests first surfaced roughly two weeks ago.
“We have made all possible efforts to end Jarange-Patil’s hunger strike but he refused to call it off,” said deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Pune on Sunday.
The demand for quotas by Marathas is decades old, but in 2018, the state government granted 16% reservation in the face of sweeping protests. It was slashed to 13% in jobs and 12% in education by the Bombay high court. In 2021, the Supreme Court quashed the move.
The current crisis began on September 1, when protesters demanding OBC status for Marathas were lathi-charged by the police in Jalna — the site of Jarange-Patil’s hunger strike. Under pressure, chief minister Eknath Shinde announced last week that Marathas from the central Maharashtra region can access reservation under the OBC category if they can produce a certificate from the Nizam era classifying them as Kunbis.
But the order — which opened the window for quotas for the community — left all sides unhappy. The Maratha groups said they wanted reservations without any stipulation, and not just for the eight central Maharashtra districts. The OBC and Kunbi groups feared their quotas will be eaten into by the fresh entrants.
Kunbis get reservation in the OBC category while Marathas come under the general category. Jarange-Patil and some Maratha outfits say that until the Nizam rule was dismantled in September 1948 in central Maharashtra, the Marathas were considered Kunbis, and were effectively OBCs.
Jarange-Patil announced to reporters in Jalna that he had stopped drinking water and accepting IV fluid from Sunday. “The government should take its decision as per its convenience. I am not in any hurry,” he said.
But OBC groups also dug in their heels.
“We are not ready to give up our share of reservation for anyone else. If the government wants to give reservation to the Maratha community, it should consider giving it from the open category,” said Baban Taywade, president, OBC Mahasangh.
Naresh Barde, a Kunbi leader from Nagpur said they sought two resolutions in the meeting. “The agitation will continue until we are assured in writing that Kunbi certificates will not be given to all Marathas and the existing OBC quota will not be touched to provide reservation to the Maratha community.”
The protests also appeared to be spreading. From Sunday, both Kunbis and OBCs started an indefinite sit-in protest at Samvidhan Chowk in Nagpur city, seeking a written assurance from the government that they would not have to share their quota with any other community.
Ravindra Tonge, an OBC activist, will begin an indefinite hunger strike in Chandrapur from Monday, while a day-long protest is to be held at Khamgaon in Buldhana and Bhandara on Tuesday. To discuss their strategy for agitations in western Maharashtra, leaders from the OBC community are meeting in Mumbai the same day.
Ajit Pawar said that CM Shinde wanted to understand the views of leaders from all political parties, and thus called a meeting at Sahyadri guest house on Monday.
“We have organised a joint statewide OBC parishad to decide our agitation in this fight to save our reservation,” said Chandrakant Bavkar, working president, OBC Janmorcha.
Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe welcomed the move to hold the all-party meeting, but said that it should be convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “if the government is really serious about resolving the complex issue of reservation”.
“A bill should be brought during the special session of Parliament to remove the cap of 50% reservation so that the Maratha community can be accommodated… This is the only way to resolve this issue.”
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