Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Hours before Manoj Jarange-Patil launched a fresh agitation demanding reservations for Marathas under Other Backward Classes, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reached out to the activist even as the Bombay High Court restricted him to protest at the historic Azad Maidan in Mumbai without necessary permissions.
With the 11-day Ganeshotsav, commencing on Wednesday, the government seeks to avoid traffic problems and law and order issues during the festival.
However, Jarange-Patil remained firm on the 'Chalo Mumbai' agitation.
“There are no changes…we will start on Ganesh Chaturthi…we will proceed as per the plan,” he told reporters in Antarwali Sarathi, his home base in Ambad tehsil in the Jalna district.
“We have full faith in nyaya devta…we respect nyaya devta…but why not Azad Maidan,” he asked.
Jarange-Patil would start on Wednesday morning from Antarwali Sarathi and is expected to reach Mumbai on Friday, the third day of the festival and intends to launch a hunger strike agitation along with his supporters.
Meanwhile, a division bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep Marne, said that while democracy and dissent go hand in hand, demonstrations should be held only at designated places.
The court asked the state government to take a call on whether to offer an alternative place at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai in the neighbouring Raigad district to hold the protest.
"It would also be open for the government to offer an alternate place at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai to the respondent to hold peaceful protest so that the tempo of life in the city of Mumbai is not hampered," the bench said, noting that public places cannot be occupied for an indefinite period.
“Peaceful protests can be undertaken after permission is sought under the new rules for public gatherings and agitations,” the court said.
Meanwhile Fadnavis’ OSD Dajendra Sable-Patil met Jarange-Patil in Antarwali and appealed to him not to march to Mumbai in the wake of the Ganesh festival.
"I earlier spoke to Manoj Jarange-Patil over phone. I came to meet him and asked him about the route he is taking to reach Mumbai. I urged him if he can postpone the agitation as there is Ganeshotsav,” he said.
From Antarwali Sarati, Jarange-Patil’s entourage would pass from Mankala, Shahagad, Ambaltakli, Tuljapur, Waghadi, Paithan and would halt overnight in Shivneri in Pune. The next day, they would commence their journey and pass through Rajgurunagar, Chakan, Talegaon, Lonavla, Panvel, Chembur and reach Azad Maidan.