Maharashtra stares at another Jarange stir over Maratha quota ahead of local body polls

For the last two years, the Maratha reservation issue has cast its shadow over Maharashtra politics.

Mumbai: The vexed Maratha-vs-OBC reservation issue is once again flaring up in Maharashtra — this time in the run up for the mega local bodies elections in the state. 

From August 2023 to 2025, the Maratha reservation issue has cast its shadow over Maharashtra politics. In 2024 witnessed the Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent Maharashtra Legislative Assembly polls. 

While in Lok Sabha, the issue damaged the prospects of the BJP-led Maha Yuti thus reducing the overall number of the BJP and the NDA, the saffron party managed to negate the impact in Vidhan Sabha polls by rolling out several populist schemes and managed to severely dent the Maha Vikas Aghadi. 

Jarange-Patil, who is based in Antarwali Sarathi in Ambad tehsil of Jalna district will start on 27 August, which is Ganesh Chaturthi and will reach Azad Maidan in Mumbai on 29 August, when he would launch hunger strike along with sit in by thousands of his supporters.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the  Maha Yuti  has suffered extensive damage because of the Maratha reservation issue - particularly in the Marathwada region - where it lost seats like Beed, Jalna and Nanded. 

So far, Jarange-Patil had undertaken more than half a dozen hunger strikes, however, every time he scaled the demand.

In the Lok Sabha polls involving 48 seats in Maharashtra, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi-INDIA bloc won 30 seats including Congress 13, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) nine and Sharad Pawar NCP (SP) eight seats as against the Maha Yuti’s 17 which include BJP nine, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena seven and Ajit Pawar-led NCP one. Besides, one independent, a Congress rebel, later supported the parent party. 

“The blow to the BJP was because of the Maratha reservation demand and the government failing to yield to the demand of Jarange-Patil. The caste divide, Maratha vs OBC, impacted a lot,” political observers said, pointing out that there was an appeal by the Maratha organisations to defeat the ruling side. 

In the Vidhan Sabha polls, through populist schemes like Ladkhi Bahin Yojana, the BJP reversed the situation and won 132 seats of the total 288 seats while its ally Shiv Sena and NCP won 57 and 41 seats, respectively. On the other hand, MVA was pushed to the bring as Shiv Sena (UBT) won 20 seats followed by Congress and NCP (SP), which got 16 and 10 seats, respectively. “This time, Jarange-Patil initially gave a call to contest, however, later backed out. This has not done down well,” the observers pointed out. 

Maharashtra currently has 62 per cent reservation - above the 50 per cent cap of the Supreme Court. Besides, the 10 per cent Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in education and public employment, is also applicable in Maharashtra. 

Reservation is a complex issue and the current break up is 0 Scheduled Caste – 13%, Scheduled Tribes – 7% , Denotified Tribes (A) – 3%, Nomadic Tribes (B) – 2.5%,  Nomadic Tribes (C) - 3.5%, Nomadic Tribes (D) - 2%, Special Backward Category – 2% and  Other Backward Classes – 19%. This accounts for 52% quota- two per cent higher than the Supreme Court cap of 50% reservation and after the addition of Maratha reservation, it is 62 per cent. In addition, the 10% quota on economically weaker sections is also applicable.

The demand of Jarange-Patil is the implementation of reservation of Marathas as Kunbis, a sub-caste covered under OBC and the the formal notification of the ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widens  the scope of the quota. 

Timeline of Manoj Jarange Patil and his hunger strikes

First Hunger Strike: (17 days) Manoj Jarange-Patil had undertaken the first hunger strike from 29 August-14 September, 2023 which he broke after Shinde assured the demands of issuance of Maratha-Kunbi and Kunbi-Maratha caste certificates to Marathas in Marathwada region and looked at options to give blanket reservation to the community. 

Second Hunger Strike: (9 days) From 25 October-2 November, 2023: Manoj Jarange-Patil again undertook the hunger strike which ended on 2 November after nine days after a government delegation met him and convinced on the work being done. The government expands scope to Kunbi certificates from Marathwada to the entire Maharashtra. 

Third Hunger Strike: (1 day) From 26-27 January, 2024, coinciding with 75th Republic Day, Manoj Jarange-Patil commences another fast-unto-death agitation in Navi Mumbai. However, the next day, he withdrew the fast after Eknath Shinde comes out with a draft notification “Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000” defined “sage-soyare” (blood relations), which includes relatives of the applicant’s father, grandfather, great grandfather and in earlier generations forming out of marriages within the same castes and will include relations forming out of marriages within the same caste.

Fourth Hunger Strike: (17 days) 10-26 February, 2024: Maratha  reservation activist launches another round of hunger strike. However, following a series of meetings and requests, he had to withdraw.  

Fifth Hunger Strike: (8 days) 8-13 June, 2024: Manoj Jarange-Patil undertook another hunger strike - the fifth such agitation. However, the state government was assured to fulfill the demand in a months' time after which he withdrew.  

Sixth Hunger Strike: (5 days) 20-24 July, 2024: Manoj Jarange-Patil launched another hunger strike - the sixth in the series of fast-unto-death undertaken by him. However, had to withdraw after he got no response. He also claimed a threat to his life. 

Seventh Hunger Strike: (9 days) 17-25 September, 2024: Manoj Jarange-Patil undertakes his seventh hunger strike demanding covering relatives from a family tree, however, had to withdraw the strike following pressure from his supper because of deterioration of health 

Eighth Hunger Strike: (5 days)  25-30 January 2025: Manoj Jarange-Patil undertakes another hinger strike demanding blanket reservation to the Maratha community as Kunbis under the OBC category. However, he decides to end strategy to force the government to give reservations.