Jalna, Sep 25 (PTI) Two OBC activists Laxman Hake and Navnath Waghmare on Wednesday suspended their week-long fast which they had undertaken in Jalna to “safeguard” quota for the Other Backward Classes, hours after Maratha quota agitator Manoj Jarange called off his indefinite hunger strike.
Hake and Waghmare had been on an indefinite fast at Wadigodri village, located 2km from Antarwali Sarati village in Maharashtra’s Jalna district, where Jarange called off his nine-day-old hunger strike launched for Maratha quota, on late Wednesday afternoon.
The duo’s protest was aimed at countering Jarange’s demands, which they deemed unconstitutional. Jarange has been seeking reservation for the Maratha community under the OBC category.
Speaking to media persons at Wadigodri, Hake criticized the Mahayuti government in the state.
“Maharashtra is not being run by the rule of the mob. If we had not resorted to a counter fast, the government would have implemented Jarange’s demands,” he said.
He accused sand mafia and anti-social elements of supporting Jarange’s movement.
In a scathing attack on Nationalist Congress Party (SP) president Sharad Pawar and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan of the Congress, Hake accused them of playing caste-based politics and supporting the Maratha quota protester.
Hake emphasized their protest had prevented Chief Minister Eknath Shinde from making a decision in favour of Jarange’s demands.
He warned OBC community voters would teach a lesson to those supporting Maratha reservation in the assembly elections which are likely to be held in November.
Jarange has been advocating for the implementation of draft notifications from the Hyderabad, Satara, and Bombay gazettes, which classify Marathas as Kunbis, an agrarian community that benefits from OBC reservation. PTI COR RSY
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.