Maharashtra cabinet Minister and Other Backward Class (OBC) leader Chhagan Bhujbal exhorted top Maratha leaders in Maharashtra to put a stop to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil’s activities that were holding the State government and the public “hostage”, while warning that even the OBCs could create pressure and cause political damage if the community so willed.
Addressing a mega OBC rally in Beed district to counter Mr. Jarange-Patil’s demands of blanket reservation for the Maratha community by inclusion under the OBC category, Mr. Bhujbal reiterated that the Marathas should not be given reservation from the OBC pie.
“I tell the government that OBC reservation should not be affected anywhere. It is the responsibility of this government to ensure it does not happen,” Mr. Bhujbal, a senior leader of Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s rebel NCP faction, said.
Mr. Bhujbal’s rally on January 13 was a pointed riposte to Mr. Jarange-Patil’s call for the Marathas to storm Mumbai city on January 20.
Mr. Bhujbal urged Maratha leaders to stop Mr. Jarange-Patil’s ‘designs’ else they too would be complicit in them.
“They should go and tell him [Jarange-Patil] that burning OBC establishments is a grave crime, that prohibiting people from entering villages, demanding blanket reservation and holding both the government and the people hostage is a grave mistake,” the OBC leader said, alluding to the violence in Beed last year that had erupted during Mr. Jarange-Patil’s second hunger strike.
Mr. Bhujbal further urged the government to impress upon the quota activist that he was creating a public nuisance with his march to Mumbai on January 20.
Warning the government that the OBCs, too, could mobilise, he exhorted his community’s members to be mentally prepared to hit the streets in the future.
“We will not take the law into our hands, but we will not remain silent. The OBCs, too, can create political damage if we want to do so. We will all have to hit the streets in this fight. But we are not like those who set things on fire. Instead, we seek to make our case using persuasion,” Mr. Bhujbal said.
