Mumbai: Activist Manoj Jarange Patil Saturday called off the third phase of his agitation for a Maratha quota saying the Eknath Shinde-led government has met all his demands and it is a “historic win” for the Maratha community.
Chief Minister Shinde sent a delegation of officials to meet Jarange Patil late Friday with a draft order meeting his main demand of granting Marathas with Kunbi caste certificates reservation under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, Jarange Patil told his supporters early Saturday. Some Maratha leaders and historians claim that all Marathas have their origin in the agrarian Kunbi clan. The Kunbis get reservation under the OBC category.
On Saturday morning, Shinde went to Vashi to meet Jarange Patil along with ministers Girish Mahajan and Deepak Kesarkar. The three ministers garlanded a statue of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji along with Jarange Patil.
मनोज जरांगे यांची भेट..
🗓️ 27-01-2024📍वाशी https://t.co/ykt1SLNV3H
— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) January 27, 2024
Patil told his supporters, “Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has done a good job. Our protest has concluded now considering our request has been accepted. I will receive the formal document from him and I look forward to (breaking my fast by) drinking juice from the hands of the CM.”
He added, “The Maratha community has got this joy after a long time. I will keep fighting in the future too. If people face any difficulties in availing of reservation or getting Kunbi certificates, we will fight for them.”
In the third phase of his agitation for a Maratha quota, community leader Jarange Patil marched from his village at Antarwali Sarati in Jalna to Mumbai, with the crowd along him swelling every step of the way, only to decide to wait on the fringes of Maharashtra’s capital city for 24 hours, giving the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government time to meet his demands.
Jarange Patil reached Vashi in Navi Mumbai late Thursday night with the intention of marching towards Mumbai the next morning. But, he stayed put all day, while the government made parleys, trying its best to hold him off, assuring him of its commitment to grant a Maratha quota and preventing the protest rally from entering Mumbai.
By Friday afternoon, Jarange Patil told his supporters that he had decided to give the state government time to issue ordinances on the promises made to him and will wait till Saturday noon.
“We have come here seeking justice. Not to create trouble. If I don’t get the ordinance copy (on the demands raised) by 11 pm or 12 noon tomorrow I will go to Azad Maidan. I need data, ordinances for blood relatives to get caste certificates and a revised decision for free education for all Maratha boys and girls,” Jarange Patil said, addressing a large crowd of supporters Friday afternoon.
He, however, said he will go to Azad Maidan at some point, if not to protest, then to celebrate.
Maharashtra Minister Chandrakant Patil, who heads the state government’s cabinet sub-committee on the Maratha reservation issue, told reporters in Solapur, “Honourable CM Eknath ji Shinde is in conversation with Manoj Jarange Patil and he will definitely be satisfied and take the right decision (about the protest).”
सोलापूर येथे पत्रकारांशी संवाद. pic.twitter.com/Dytz065aST
— Chandrakant Patil (@ChDadaPatil) January 26, 2024
An official from the CMO told ThePrint that Shinde spoke to Jarange Patil over the phone to hear out his demands and give him an assurance about the state’s intention to give the Maratha community reservation.
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“Final battle”
Jarange Patil started towards Mumbai from Antarwali Sarati on 20 January describing it as the “final battle” in his quest to get reservation for the Maratha community.
This is Jarange Patil’s third protest since last August for a Maratha quota in government jobs and education — a decades-old demand of the community.
The Supreme Court had in 2021 scrapped the Maratha quota law that the former Devendra Fadnavis-led government passed in 2018 saying it was “unconstitutional.” The state government first filed a review petition and later a curative petition last year to get the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision on the quota.
Jarange Patil first sat on an indefinite hunger strike pressing for a Maratha quota in August last year and shot to fame when police lathi-charged protesters there in September.
Demanding reservation for the Maratha community in government jobs and education, Jarange Patil persisted with the hunger strike in Antarwali Sarati for 17 days and called it off only after Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde personally visited him, along with a slew of ministers and senior politicians from the ruling coalition, and held a glass of water to his lips.
Jarange Patil gave the government time till 24 October to fulfil his demand for a Maratha quota, after which he began another hunger strike.
This time, he demanded that all Marathas be given reservation as Kunbis under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. He called off this second phase of his protest only after eight days, giving the state government a deadline of 24 December to meet his demand.
Many Maratha leaders and historians claim that the origin of Marathas is in the agrarian Kunbi clan, which has been getting reservation under the OBC category.
Ahead of the 24 December deadline, Jarange Patil decided to wait till January for his next stir, setting his eyes on making a big splash in Mumbai this time.
“I respect the government and administration. Issue the order, give us the copies. I will study all documents given. If not today, I will go tomorrow (to Azad Maidan). But, I have started a hunger strike. I am not having any food, except water. I am not afraid to die for my community,” Jarange Patil told his supporters in Vashi Friday.
Jarange Patil claimed that Sumant Bhange, secretary of the social justice and special assistance department, met him earlier Friday to discuss his demands and explained all the decisions taken by the government. There were no ministers involved, he said.
Jarange Patil’s demands
This time, Jarange Patil has specific demands while the curative petition is still in the Supreme Court. After the second phase of his agitation last year, the Shinde government had expedited the process of identifying Kunbi records among Maratha families.
This time, Jarange Patil said he wants all the 54 lakh-odd persons whose Kunbi records have been identified to get a Kunbi caste certificate at the earliest along with his or her entire family. He also demanded that the government display a list of Kunbi records found outside tehsil offices in villages and hold a camp to grant Kunbi caste certificates.
“The secretary (Bhange) stated 57 lakh records have been found, and not 54 lakh. 37 lakh certificates have already been issued and the rest will get caste certificates as soon as possible. I have asked for data of all the 37 lakh who have been given certificates,” Jarange Patil said Friday.
He has also demanded that the committee under retired judge Sandeep Shinde formed to find Kunbi records among Marathas should not be disbanded and should get an extension for at least a year. Further, he has asked for the state government to grant free education for all Maratha boys and girls, and not start any recruitment for government jobs till there is a final decision on the Maratha quota in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission has initiated a statewide survey of the Maratha community and of people belonging to the open category in order to collect data to boost the state’s preparedness in its Supreme Court battle.
This is an updated version of the report.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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