Mumbai: As violent agitations pressing for a Maratha quota continue in Maharashtra, the Eknath Shinde government has gone into firefighting mode. On Monday, the Shinde cabinet announced a slew of measures that included getting more empirical data on the Marathas’ “backwardness” and bolstering its case before the Supreme Court in an attempt to mollify the protesting caste group.
“The state government is serious about giving reservation to the Maratha community and is working on war footing. We are working towards presenting a case in the Supreme Court that will stand in the court of law and for that, we are working round the clock,” Chief Minister Shinde said at a press conference after the cabinet met Monday.
Shinde also said Tuesday that he had a phone conversation with Manoj Jarange-Patil, a protesting Maratha activist who first began a hunger strike for the Maratha reservation on 29 August. Last week, he announced he was resuming his protest after a 40-day deadline he had set for the state government to implement the reservation passed without action.
The state government has called for an all-party meeting Wednesday to discuss the quota issue.
Tuesday’s cabinet meeting comes at a time when Marathas have intensified their demand to be counted among the state’s other backward classes. Marathas form 33 percent of Maharashtra’s population — a significant chunk in a state that sends 48 MPs to Parliament.
The protests, which also come less than a year before both the general election and state assembly polls, took a violent turn Monday in Marathwada’s Beed district, forcing authorities to issue prohibitory orders.
Shinde announced that his government had accepted a preliminary report submitted by a committee that was looking into giving them Kunbi certificates.
Kunbi is a sub-Maratha caste group that’s counted among the state’s OBCs. Marathas have been demanding Kunbi certificates.
Apart from this, the cabinet also announced a panel of three retired judges — Justice Dilip Bhosale, Justice Maroti Gaikwad, and Justice Sandeep Shinde — to help the government with a curative petition that it has filed in the Supreme Court over the issue.
Meanwhile, opposition parties have been demanding a special session in both Parliament and state legislature to resolve the impasse.
Former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray has called on the BJP-led Narendra Modi government to resolve the issue. Thackeray’s party is a rival faction to Shinde’s Shiv Sena.
“This can only be resolved in the Lok Sabha. I have been saying this and I say this again — the government should call a special session of Parliament (to resolve the issue),” Thackeray told the media Tuesday. “If a special session of the state legislature is required it should be convened.”
Jarange-Patil also called for a special assembly session. Although he had been drinking water in the last two days, he threatened to go on a “strict hunger strike” unless the state government announced such a session by Wednesday.
“The government should convene a special session of the state legislature, accept the interim report of the Shinde Committee on reservation, and provide reservation to all Marathas. We will not accept half-hearted reservations,” he said, adding all Marathas should get the benefit of Kunbi certificates.
Significantly, Marathas have been demanding reservations for jobs and education for nearly four decades. In 2018, sporadic protests led the Maharashtra government to enact a law granting 16 percent reservation for the caste group under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) category, but it was challenged in the Supreme Court and was eventually struck down.
The Maharashtra government filed a curative petition in the top court earlier this month.
CM Shinde’s remarks come a day after protests turned in Beed, where demonstrators set light on a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) office in Beed and also started a fire at the house of former state minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar and his MLA nephew Sandip Kshirsagar (Sharad Pawar).
The house of another legislator, NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) Prakash Solanke, was also set ablaze.
The violence prompted Beed District Collector Deepa Mudhol Munde to issue prohibitory orders.
Maharashtra | Beed District Collector Dipa Mudhol Munde has issued prohibitory orders under CrPC 144(2) in the 5 kilometers' radius area from District headquarters and all taluka Headquarters in the district. The decision has been taken by the authorities after today's incidents… https://t.co/eIRHZnffsE
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2023
Also Read: Maharashtra’s Maratha quota stir puts Fadnavis in a tight spot, CM Shinde attempts damage control
Collating data to prove ‘backwardness’
At the press conference, Shinde said that the committee headed by Justice Sandeep Shinde had checked 1.75 crore caste documents and found 13,498 Kunbi certificates.
The government has said that while the process of scrutinising Kunbi caste documents from the Nizam era may take some time, Marathas with evidence of Kunbi links should immediately be given the benefit of a caste certificate.
Further, the state’s backward class commission will also be asked to collect more empirical data to prove the Maratha community’s “backwardness”, Shinde said.
Meanwhile, protests continued Tuesday, with demonstrators blocking the busy Pune-Bangalore highway for over two hours.
#WATCH | Pro-Maratha reservation protestors burn tyres on Pune-Bengaluru highway near Navale bridge in Maharashtra's Pune city. The movement of vehicles is affected near the site of the protest. pic.twitter.com/4OGsSGcRhe
— ANI (@ANI) October 31, 2023
The state government has been appealing for calm. While Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis promised strict action against those involved in Monday’s violence, Shinde asked protestors to refrain from “extreme steps”.
“I’m appealing to the community to not resort to violence. The government should be given time as we are serious about giving quota to the community. We have seen peaceful protests in the past and it should continue that way,” he said.
‘Politicians here are just for vote bank politics’
The reservation demand and subsequent protests have put the government in a tight spot. At least two MPs and three MLAs — including four from the Shinde government’s side — have resigned in protest.
Meanwhile, amid mounting pressure, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief wrote an open letter to Jarange-Patil Tuesday asking him to take back his hunger strike. The letter, which Raj Thackeray posted on X, asks Patil to look after his health as “politicians here are just there to do vote bank politics and they have nothing to do with the demand for which you are on hunger strike”.
प्रिय बंधू मनोज जरांगे पाटील,
सस्नेह जय महाराष्ट्र !
इथली राजकीय व्यवस्था भंपक आहे. त्यांना तुमच्याकडून निवडणुकीत फक्त मतदान हवं आहे. ते एकदा मिळालं की हे आपली सगळी आश्वासनं विसरणार अशी ह्यांची वृत्ती आहे. त्यांना तुम्ही ज्या मागणीसाठी उपोषण करत आहात त्याच्याशी काहीही…
— Raj Thackeray (@RajThackeray) October 31, 2023
“We will work together so that there is no rift in society and we all work together to find a good, permanent solution. I and my party are with you in your work,” Raj says.
It also asks for the state government to call a special assembly session.
“Let everyone know what someone has to say. Let everyone know that the government is going to give this reservation under which law and rules. From all this, we should send a proposal to the central government from all over Maharashtra and ask them to find a way,” the letter said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: Hotel worker to serial protester— who is Manoj Jarange-Patil, latest face of Maratha quota agitation