Mumbai: Maratha reservation campaigner Manoj Jarange has threatened to launch yet another agitation from 4 June, the day of the counting when the next government at the Centre would be decided.
The campaigners are also working towards holding a mega rally on 8 July to press the Maratha community's demand for reservation in jobs and education.
In Maharashtra, the elections are being held in the backdrop of Maratha quota issue and the OBC resistance. The Maratha community now has two options of getting benefits of reservations in jobs and education.
In February, the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Bill, 2024, was passed in the state legislature, paving the way for 10 per cent reservation.
Last year, the government, in a parallel exercise, had also searched for Kunbi-Maratha and Maratha-Kunbi records and as per Jarange-Patil’s claims 57 lakh records have been found. Kunbis form a sub-caste of the Maratha and covered under OBCs - and thus the certificates would enable them to get reservation in jobs and education.
However, Jarange-Patil’s demand is to declare the Marathas as Kunbis and grant separate quotas from the OBCs, plus the formal notification of the ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widened the scope of the quota.
Published 14 May 2024, 14:30 IST