Maratha reservation demands agreed upon
In an attempt to put an end to an agitation that threatened to bring hundreds of thousands of protestors to the center of India’s financial capital, the Maharashtra government on Saturday agreed to Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil’s demand to extend OBC quota benefits to the community.
Announcement made by Eknath Shinde-led administration
After long talks between the two sides, that resulted in the announcement by the Eknath Shinde-led administration that Maratha people will be eligible for reservation in jobs and education admissions if they produce certificates proving they are members of the agrarian Kunbi community and their blood relatives. Followed by the announcement, Jarange-Patil finally called off his strike.
After the state government released a draft notification formalizing the reservation arrangement, it came under fire from within. The alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is affiliated with Ajit Pawar, questioned the legality of the Marathas’ “backdoor entry” into the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota and its validity.
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Maratha reservation demand
The pronouncements were hailed as a “victory” by Jarange-Patil, who took his agitation to Vashi, Navi Mumbai, which is outside the state capital. However, he threatened to return if the administration did not make sure the decision could withstand legal examination.
“Our demand was to issue Kunbi certificates to the blood relatives to Maratha individuals having Kunbi antecedents. An ordinance (draft notification) to this effect has been issued,” Jarange-Patil said. He was displaying a copy of the proposed announcement to change the state’s caste certificate regulations from 2012. When the Maratha leader broke his indefinite fast, Chief Minister Shinde was in attendance.
“I have said that I will go to Mumbai but for us this is also Mumbai. We have to hold a huge victory rally, bigger than the one held in Jalna last year, for which a place and date will be declared soon,” Jarange-Patil said, clarifying that he had scrapped his plan to come to Mumbai, where he initially planned to continue his indefinite hunger strike at the Azad Maidan
The CM invoked his farmer’s lineage during his address to the protesters. “I am also a son of a farmer. I know their problems and sufferings. This is the reason I took an oath in the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to give reservation to Marathas and that was fulfilled today. I do what I say,” he said and thanked the activist and the Marathas for holding a peaceful march at Mumbai’s doorstep.
