Fresh off a 2nd hunger strike, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil to undertake state tour again

Mumbai: Mounting pressure on the Maharashtra government, Manoj Jarange-Patil - who had undertaken two back-to-back hunger strikes - would undertake yet another state-wide tour for the long-pending demand for reservation to the Maratha community, which accounts for 33 per cent of the population of the state.

Meanwhile, confusion still prevails over the agreed deadline between the protestors and the government - December 24, 2023 or January 2, 2024.

In his forties, Jarange-Patil, the Shivba Sanghatana founder, and a resident of Antarwali Sarathi village in the Ambad tehsil in Jalna district has been shifted to a hospital in the Chhatrapati SambhajiNagar district, where he is undergoing treatment.

“I would start a tour of the state soon,” said Jarange-Patil, who is expected to be out of the hospital in the next few days.

Besides, he has also urged the Maratha community members to launch a relay hunger strike from December 1.

Incidentally, the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature commences on December 7, and the issue of the Maratha reservation would be discussed in this crucial sitting in Nagpur, the winter capital of the state.

Jarange-Patil’s main demands are that blanket reservations be given to the Marathas and Kunbi caste certificates be issued to them so that they can avail benefits of reservation under the OBC category.

Jarange-Patil undertook the first hunger strike from August 29-September 14, which he broke after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde assured him that demands of issuance of Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas in Marathwada region would be heard, and looked at options to give a blanket reservation to the community.

Thereafter, Jarange-Patil undertook a tour of various districts in the state and the deadline given ended on October 24.

From October 25, he again undertook the hunger strike which he ended on November 2 after nine days, after a delegation led by Justice M G Gaikwad (Retd) and Justice Sunil Shukre (Retd) and comprising of officials like Jalna’s District Collector Dr Shrikrishnanath Panchal and Superintendent of Police Shailesh Balkawade met him initially, after which a four-member ministerial delegation comprising of Dhananjay Munde, Sandipan Bhumare, Uday Samant and Atul Save explained the position to the activist.

The scope of Kunbi certificates have now been extended to the entire state.

On the other hand, the government is also going to pursue a curative petition in the Supreme Court and for advise - it has formed a three-member panel of judges - Justice Dilip Bhosale (Retd), Justice M G Gaikwad (Retd) and Justice Sandeep Shinde (Retd).

Justice Gaikwad had headed the panel that recommended reservation to Marathas in jobs and education by according them the status of Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC).

Justice Bhosale, a retired Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, was earlier appointed to study the Supreme Court judgment cancelling the quota for the Maratha community and had submitted it to the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government headed by Uddhav Thackeray.

Justice Shinde is currently heading the committee to determine the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), including the legal and administrative framework, for giving caste certificates to the Kunbi community.

Chairman of State Backward Class Commission Justice (Retd ) Anand Nirgude too is advising the government.

The new GR states that the Justice Shinde Committee will examine the old records and give Kunbi certificates to those Marathas who have the Nizam-era government documents that mention them as Kunbi-Maratha or Maratha-Kunbi.