Mumbai: On 14 October, after a mega rally of Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil near Antarwali Sarati village in Marathwada’s Jalna district, hundreds of farmers lost their crops as the massive crowd trampled all over the surrounding farmlands on their way back from the event.
At Antarwali Sarati, people still whisper about how they heard about an official from the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) speedily taking stock of the extent of damage and making a list, so that all affected farmers can be given monetary compensation.
The official in question was Mangesh Chivate, an officer on special duty (OSD) for Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the prompt attention to the crisis was just one of the many examples of how Shinde built a bridge between himself and Jarange-Patil — the face of the Maratha community’s agitation for reservation.
Maharashtra’s Maratha community, which is estimated to comprise about 33 percent of the state’s population, has been sporadically protesting for a quota in government jobs and education.
Since August-September this year, Jarange-Patil has been setting deadlines for the government to grant a Maratha quota and insisting that Marathas be given reservation as Kunbis, who get reservation in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, if a standalone quota is not possible. Maratha leaders and historians claim that all Marathas have their roots in the agrarian Kunbi clan.
Through Chivate, CM Shinde has been extending all the support that Jarange-Patil has been asking for, earning the Maratha activist’s trust and cementing his leadership as a Maratha CM by negotiating for time for the state government to meet his demands.
As Jarange-Patil’s reservation deadline of 24 December to the government inches closer, the relationship-building efforts have ensured that the subject of his ire towards the government is not Shinde. It is at times Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, at times minister Chhagan Bhujbal — who is leading a counter-mobilisation of the OBCs against the Maratha agitation and criticising Jarange-Patil — and at times it is Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
But it is almost never Eknath Shinde.
Jarange-Patil has reportedly slammed Fadnavis for allegedly poisoning the minds of Maratha leaders against the community and for slapping cases against members of the Maratha community for alleged violence. He has also reportedly criticised Pawar for not reining in his party NCP’s minister, Bhujbal.
Speaking to ThePrint, political commentator Hemant Desai said: “Jarange-Patil has never once criticised Eknath Shinde directly, who has managed to win his trust. Ahead of the election, in the power tussle of coalition politics between the CM and the two deputy CMs — Fadnavis and Pawar — the support cultivated through Patil will help Shinde with some political stock.”
A standalone quota for the Maratha community is embroiled in a legal battle, with the Supreme Court having struck it down as “unconstitutional” in 2021. The Maharashtra government has filed a review petition, and later a curative petition in this regard.
Shinde and Jarange-Patil
Jarange-Patil has been a well-known Maratha activist in the whereabouts of Antarwali Sarati and its neighbouring villages for more than a decade. He lives in a modest house in Ankushnagar, a few kilometres from Antarwali Sarati. And until September this year, his influence ended there.
He first shot to the limelight when the police lathi-charged his agitation at Antarwali Sarati, where he sat on a hunger strike, in September this year.
In the days that followed, CM Shinde personally intervened and got Jarange-Patil to give the government some time and break his hunger strike by holding a glass of juice to his lips.
The CM instructed Chivate to swiftly ensure that all victims of the lathi-charge got medical aid sponsored by the CM’s relief fund. Similarly, he told Chivate to expedite all proposals for aid from the CM relief fund for families of Maratha persons dying by suicide for a quota.
The Shinde government had declared an aid of Rs 10 lakh for the families of Marathas who had taken their own lives as part of the quota agitation.
“I first spoke to Manoj dada over the phone after the lathi-charge, but he doesn’t remember that conversation. I first met him on 18 September after a cabinet meeting at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad),” Chivate told ThePrint.
He insisted he went there on his own accord, to build a bridge with Jarange-Patil so that the task given to him by the CM — ensuring speedy disbursal of relief to victims of the Maratha agitation — was done well.
Chivate’s position was advantageous. Many villages across the state, especially Antarwali Sarati and its neighbouring villages, had declared “gaonbandi,” prohibition of entry into their village, for political personalities.
Chivate was the CM’s envoy, but he wasn’t a politician. “So, I could enter these villages freely. Nobody objected,” he said.
Once this contact was established, Jarange-Patil would often call Chivate telling him about incidents of suicides by members of the Maratha community across different districts of Maharashtra.
“One day, he sent me a handwritten list of seven-eight names (of those who had died by suicide) from his mobile phone. That too we acted on swiftly (in terms of disbursal of aid),” Chivate told ThePrint.
“The dialogue was anyway there, but all this also led to trust being built that whatever this person is saying is actually happening.”
When CM ‘dipped into his personal finances’
On 14 October, after Patil’s mega rally at Antarwali Sarati when he strongly emphasised his demand for a blanket reservation for all Marathas as Kunbis if a standalone quota was not possible, many attendees reportedly met with accidents on their way back.
“The CM gave me directions to get their medical expenses covered under the CM relief fund. At the same time, many farmers suffered crop damage as the standing harvest was trampled upon by the lakhs of people who had come for the rally,” Chivate said.
“This included cotton and soyabean. These farmers had actually sacrificed for the community. Manoj dada gave me a list of 441 farmers’ names, saying the farmers who had lost their crop should get compensation,” he added.
The CMO had given Jarange-Patil its word through Chivate that those who had suffered would get compensation for the damage. But this was easier said than done.
The district collector’s office in Jalna raised an objection, Chivate said.
The bureaucracy was of the opinion that such compensation under the CM relief fund is granted for natural disasters and extending government aid for damage caused due to the rally of a particular community could set a wrong precedent, he explained.
“We tried to find a way out of this because I had given my word to Manoj dada. The CM asked me how much was the damage? I said (worth) Rs 32 lakh and explained what the problem was. He said he would foot the compensation out of his own pocket and he did,” Chivate told ThePrint.
How Shinde broke Jarange–Patil’s agitation 2.0
Just like how CM Shinde placated Jarange-Patil after the first round of his hunger strike in September that went on for 17 days, he managed to break the second round of his agitation too after eight days, negotiating for more time for the government to act.
Chivate said he spoke to Jarange-Patil on 25 October, the day he launched the second phase of his agitation. He spoke to the Maratha leader on the second day too, and was thereafter in touch with him through his close associates over the third, fourth and fifth days.
“Manoj dada’s health was not very good. I was taking constant reports about his health through his associates. On the sixth day, he and I spoke,” Chivate said, adding that the same day he travelled to Nagpur, and from there to Yavatmal in the Vidarbha region for a government programme.
This is where he says he appraised the CM about Jarange-Patil’s health and his demands. “I told the CM, ‘sir I’ve established a cordial relation with Manoj dada. If there is some dialogue, then discussions can proceed’, and I said I would be happy to speak to Jarange-Patil (again) if needed,” Chivate said.
It was 30 October by then and Chivate was scheduled to travel to Belagavi (in Karnataka, referred to as Belgaum in Maharashtra) as he does every year. Certain sections of the population in Belagavi observe 1 November as a “black day” to protest the inclusion of the district and some other surrounding Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka, instead of Maharashtra.
“At Nagpur airport, I had taken my boarding pass to travel to Belgaum and was about to sit in the bus to reach the aircraft when the CM called. He asked me where I was. I said I was at the airport but according to his directions, I could plan to travel to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (major airport close to Antarwali Sarati) immediately,” Chivate told ThePrint.
“That night itself I started towards Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. This was the same day when Jarange-Patil had said ‘Jo paryant jivat jeev ahe, to paryant charcha tari kara’ (till there is life in me, at least come for a discussion)’. It was a very sentimental statement and I gave an idea to CM sir accordingly,” Chivate added.
Chivate’s car reached Antarwali Sarati at the crack of dawn. On the way, he said, he called Justice (retired) M.G. Gaikwad, former chairman of Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission, to take notes on how he should present the state’s side when he talked to Jarange-Patil.
At about 7 am, Chivate, next to Jarange-Patil, dialled the CM and the two conversed for about 25 minutes.
“I could see some satisfaction on Manoj dada’s face after the conversation with the CM,” he said.
Chivate had another round of discussion with Jarange-Patil on 1 November before returning to Mumbai to personally give Shinde an update.
On 2 November, when the CM sent a delegation of former judges to convince Jarange-Patil to give the state government time on the reservation matter, Chivate was part of it, writing down every point of discussion, every decision on paper so that Jarange-Patil could hold the government to it. This was the day when Jarange-Patil broke his second agitation by ending his hunger strike.
Here’s where a discrepancy crept in, Chivate admitted.
The state government’s official stand is that Jarange-Patil has given the government time till 2 January to grant the entire Maratha community reservation as Kunbis under the OBC quota. Jarange-Patil insists the deadline is 24 December.
“The confusion over the deadline — 24 December or 2 January — is because in the discussion, it was said that Jarange-Patil should give the government two months as the committee formed to search for Kunbi records had been given time till 24 December. Two months’ time technically means 2 January, but I wrote down 24 December considering the amount of time the committee has been given,” Chivate said.
The Maharashtra government has formed a committee under a retired judge to find Kunbi records among Maratha persons.
A third agitation by Jarange-Patil now looms large. The Maharashtra government has reportedly identified 32 lakh Kunbi records of eligible Maratha persons so far, and Chivate has been in constant touch with Jarange-Patil, moving aid from the CM relief fund swiftly to an accident victim here, a suicide-stricken family there.
He, however, refrains from speaking on the quota issue per se.
“As an officer on special duty of the CM, I don’t want to innocuously say something that is taken differently,” Chivate said. “But I’ve kept the channel of communication open.”
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Victor in 2018, in shadows now — how Fadnavis shed political weight between two Maratha quota stirs