Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar/Jalna, Sep 15 (PTI) Undeterred by the police’s denial of permission to stage a protest in Mumbai, fasting Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange left for the Maharashtra capital on Tuesday morning from Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district.
Mumbai Police earlier denied permission to Jarange, who has been on a hunger strike for the last 17 days demanding OBC quota for Maratha community members with Kunbi caste genealogies, to take the protest to Azad Maidan, citing law and order concerns during the ongoing Ganesh festival.
Though defiant, Jarange tweaked his earlier plan to mobilise Maratha community members from various parts of Maharashtra to Mumbai and decided to go with a select group of 5-10 associates amid tight security.
Frail and slumped in the front seat of a car, Jarange, dressed in his trademark white shirt and trouser, cited the Bombay High Court’s ruling which had refused to restrain him from staging a protest in Mumbai. ”Nothing is more important for me than my community. I will die for my community or get a reservation for them. The court has said that if anyone is agitating democratically, it cannot be stopped. The judiciary is with us,” he told reporters.
Jarange reiterated that a conspiracy had been hatched to kill him.
“Does (Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis want to kill me with bullets? I am coming alone. They have chalked a plan to kill me. No matter even if they kill me, I will not let betrayal take place to the Maratha community,” the quota activist said.
Fadnavis and other ministers in the state cabinet had repeatedly appealed to Jarange to withdraw his hunger strike, saying the government was open to discussions and would accept the legally valid demands.
Jarange’s carcade will pass through Patoda of Beed, Srigonda in Ahilyanagar, Hadapsar in Pune and Khopoli in Raigad district before reaching Azad Maidan in Mumbai on September 19.
Earlier in the morning, Jarange underwent a health check-up, paid obeisance to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and visited two temples in the village.
Tight security has been deployed along the Antarwali Sarati-Shahagad route. The deployment includes three sub-divisional police officers, ten inspectors, 30 assistant/sub-inspectors, 300 police personnel, 265 home guards and two platoons of the Rapid City Police (RCP), taking the total number of personnel to 648, officials said.
Security arrangements have been strengthened at various sensitive points. Jarange’s convoy includes two SUVs and as many ambulances.
His security has also been enhanced with personnel from the Additional Special Protection Unit (SPU) of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, along with two bodyguards provided by the Jalna police.
Jalna DYSP Siddheshwar Dhumal said, ”We are managing traffic here along with the local police and highway police. Even if the number of vehicles in Jarange’s convoy increases, we will manage”. PTI AW COR NSK
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