With the Eknath Shinde-led tripartite government struggling to meet the demands of Maratha reservation agitators, sparks flew on Monday between Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, a leader of the ruling Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction and Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil after Mr. Bhujbal, an influential Other Backward Class (OBC) leader, called upon the OBC community to not suffer in silence and spread “terror” to ensure things got done.
Mr. Bhujbal is a vocal opponent of Mr. Jarange Patil’s demand of granting a blanket reservation to Marathas by giving them OBC certificates and including them in the OBC Kunbi category.
Speaking in Jalna district in the State’s Marathwada region, Mr. Bhujbal claimed that OBC activists were being targeted and he was raising his voice on behalf of the community to safeguard the rights of OBCs.
“We must speak up if we are facing any injustice… now it is time to spread terror and get things done,” Mr. Bhujbal said in a thinly-veiled allusion to Mr. Jarange Patil’s pressure tactics to move the State government to fulfil his demands.
Mr. Bhujbal further said that while he was not opposed to Marathas getting a quota, he stressed they ought to be given reservations separate from the OBC quota.
“In cases where old Kunbi certificates from the Nizam-era have been found, these Marathas should be given the OBC Kunbi status. But now, this number seems to be swelling and there is a demand for blanket reservation for the Marathas to be given OBC Kunbi certificates. This is like securing reservation through the back door,” Mr. Bhujbal said.
Mr. Bhujbal further demanded a probe into the assault on the policemen who tried to control a restive mob of Maratha quota agitators on September 29 in Jalna’s Antarwali-Sarathi village, where Mr. Jarange-Patil was on a fast.
He further alleged that the houses of NCP legislators Prakash Solankhe (of the Ajit Pawar faction) and Sandeep Kshirsagar (of the Sharad Pawar faction) had been deliberately torched by Maratha quota agitators as they were members of the OBC Mali community.
“What is happening is nothing less than an attack on the OBC reservation. Houses of MLAs are being torched, OBC activists’ hotels are being targeted. We need to speak about it. I, too, have a right to rally my support base in the manner in which others have the right to rally their community members. We, too, should express our anger and concern about all this,” Mr. Bhujbal said.
In response, Mr. Jarange Patil said he had never condoned or supported the torching of MLAs’ houses, and remarked that Mr. Bhujbal ought to speak more responsibly while making accusations against the Maratha community.
“I do not know whether the torching of the MLAs homes was planned or whether the OBC Mali community were being targeted. But we [the Maratha community] have nothing to do with it. We have never condoned it. We have been saying right from day one that one should not aggravate social tensions during our protest,” Mr. Jarange Patil said, speaking from a hospital in Sambhajinagar, where he is recuperating.
The activist, who called off his second hunger fast last week, has warned that he would “choke” the lifelines of all politicians if the Shinde government failed to deliver a quota for Marathas before December 24.
