Maratha quota activist started from Jalna village Saturday after Eknath Shinde govt's failure to stop him, tells community it 'should not back down before getting reservation'.
Jarange-Patil says hunger strike will be held at Azad Maidan in Mumbai, where he will be joined by 'crores' of Marathas. SC is set to hear Maratha reservation issue on 24 January.
The agitation for the Maratha quota had turned violent, with protesters 'torching the homes of two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs' in Beed in October.
The Maratha quota protests have fractured old ties in epicentre Jalna. OBC and Maratha neighbours no longer chit-chat, children have been told to stop playing with each other.
NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who had grown muted after being embroiled in graft cases and serving jail time, is now making an aggressive bid to fill the OBC leadership void.
On 3rd leg of his Maharashtra tour in Thane Tuesday, the Maratha quota activist says they were 'protesting peacefully', suspects whether Shinde govt ‘wants to maintain law & order or not’.
Bhujbal questioned granting of OBC certificates to Marathas & criticised ministers and judges for pleading before Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil to end his indefinite fast.
Shinde govt has asked districts to look at land, birth & death records, among others, to identify Marathas who were once Kunbis & publish details before 2 Jan deadline for quota.
40-year-old Manoj Jarange, whose Maratha reservation agitation has kept Maharashtra on the boil, vowed to lead a 'massive' march to Mumbai if no decision was taken within two months.
CM Shinde says state Backward Class Commission working on 'war footing' to ensure 'errors' that led to SC striking down Maratha quota earlier 'are not repeated'.
Pinarayi Vijayan once called Vellappally Natesan, the general secretary of SNDP Yogam, Kerala’s Pravin Togadia. Now he is giving his hate speech a free pass.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says bill will be 'well-timed, as Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent'.
Islamabad-based think-tank PICSS's new report says Pakistan saw 'pronounced escalation' in violence last year, with 3,413 conflict-related deaths compared to 1,950 in previous year.
Many of you might think I got something so wrong in National Interest pieces written this year. I might disagree! But some deserve a Mea Culpa. I’d deal with the most recent this week.
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