Maratha quota row intensifies: Chhagan Bhujbal, senior NCP chief and a key OBC voice in Maharashtra politics, has convened a gathering of OBC representatives on Monday to debate Manoj Jarange’s demand searching for Maratha quota inside the OBC class.
The continuing Maratha reservation agitation led by activist Manoj Jarange Patil entered its third day at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on August 31, with police authorities granting him permission to increase his starvation strike by one other day. Patil, who has refused to drink water till his calls for are met, is urgent for 10 per cent quota for Marathas beneath the Different Backward Courses (OBC) class, a requirement that has put the Mahayuti authorities beneath growing political stress.
Won’t depart protest web site: Manoj Jarange
Maratha quota agitation chief Manoj Jarange Patil on Sunday declared that he wouldn’t depart the protest web site at Azad Maidan till the federal government accepted his calls for, asserting that “even bullets from the Fadnavis authorities gained’t deter us.” Addressing supporters, Jarange accused the Maharashtra authorities of using “time-wasting techniques” on the reservation challenge and insisted that the administration should instantly challenge a Authorities Decision (GR) granting Marathas quota beneath the OBC class primarily based on out there data. Agency in his stance, he reiterated that “no one can cease Marathas from getting reservations,” whereas concurrently urging his followers to take care of peace in the course of the agitation and never bask in any hooliganism.
Authorities response: Talks on ‘conflict footing’
A ten-member ministerial committee, led by Maharashtra Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, has been fashioned to carry discussions with stakeholders. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar assured that the state is engaged on a “conflict footing” to resolve the difficulty, although he took a veiled swipe at critics.
“Those that are talking now have themselves been in authorities for a very long time. All of them are revered and skilled leaders, however please don’t power us to get into these items,” Ajit Pawar instructed reporters in Pune.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde defended the federal government’s efforts and accused the opposition of politicising the agitation.
Opposition voices: Pawar and Raut step in
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition alliance has prolonged outright help to Jarange’s protest. Sharad Pawar, chief of the NCP (SP), prompt a constitutional modification to raise the 50 per cent reservation cap, whereas
Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, went a step additional, concentrating on Union House Minister Amit Shah, urging him to personally meet the protest chief. “The difficulty of reservations falls beneath the House Ministry. He ought to depart his ego apart and take accountability,” Raut stated in Mumbai, whereas additionally calling on CM Devendra Fadnavis to straight have interaction with Jarange at Azad Maidan.
Jarange Patil’s core demand
Jarange has insisted that every one Marathas needs to be listed as Kunbis, a sub-caste included within the OBC class, enabling them to learn from quotas in training and authorities jobs. Addressing his supporters earlier, Jarange had warned the federal government, “If the federal government enters our territory, the Marathas will enter theirs. Should you trigger us bother, we’ll trigger you bother once we go there.”
Bhujbal’s countermove: OBC leaders convene
Including one other dimension to the escalating row, senior NCP chief and minister Chhagan Bhujbal, a outstanding OBC face, has known as a gathering of OBC leaders and organisations in Mumbai tomorrow at 3 pm. The assembly, convened beneath his Samata Parishad, will deliberate on Jarange’s demand.
Bhujbal firmly opposed the demand to equate Marathas with Kunbis, “The Kalelkar Fee and later the Mandal Fee didn’t embody Marathas as a backward neighborhood. Kunbis and Marathas usually are not the identical, and each the Excessive Courtroom and Supreme Courtroom have stated this clearly.”
A rising political flashpoint
The Maratha quota agitation, lengthy a simmering challenge in Maharashtra politics, is as soon as once more on the heart of a storm- with Jarange Patil’s strike amplifying stress on the federal government, hardening OBC opposition, and creating new political challenges for the ruling coalition forward of essential state-level battles.