Maharashtra Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Girish Mahajan has said it was impossible to give blanket reservation to all Marathas, prompting a verbal backlash from activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Monday.
Mr. Jarange Patil, who is currently on a tour of north Maharashtra, threatened to make viral the clip where Mahajan (who had met the pro-quota activist during his first hunger strike) had purportedly made the promise that reservation would be given to all members of the Maratha community.
Mr. Mahajan, a five-term legislator from Jamner in Jalgaon district and the State’s Rural Development, said he had already told the activist before that a blanket reservation was not viable.
“A blanket reservation for the Marathas is simply not possible. Under what law are you going to grant them this? Everybody in the intelligentsia has said so, be they retired judges or university vice-chancellors. I had met him [Mr. Jarange Patil] not once but four times and told him this. One cannot merely dole out caste certificates which will not stand scrutiny,” the Minister said.
At the same time, Mr. Mahjan stressed that CM Eknath Shinde and the rest of the government were committed to giving a foolproof quota for the Marathas and that the way of achieving it was by presenting the State’s case in the Supreme Court.
“It is our sincere effort to give them a quota which will withstand scrutiny. We do not want to deceive the Maratha community by giving them something which will be declared invalid later. The route for that is through the curative petition filed in the Supreme Court. The State government is well-prepared with its arguments,” Mr. Mahajan said.
Mr. Mahajan was one of the trouble-shooters who had acted as intermediary between Mr. Jarange Patil and the government at the time of the activist’s first hunger fast in September, which had lasted 16 days and was called off only after CM Shinde personally visited Mr. Jarange Patil and coaxed him to call it off.
Meanwhile, the Minister’s remarks drew flak from the activist, who warned Mr. Mahajan to choose his words carefully and remember the promises he had made to the Maratha community.
“When I was on my fast-unto-death, Girish Mahajan came to meet me on behalf of the government. He then promised that the government would provide Kunbi certificates to all Marathas. So, he better think about what he is saying now. Mahajan was the one who had prevailed on me to grant the government one month to give the Marathas a quota. I have the entire recording of his conversation which I will make viral if he reneges on his promise. We had faith in him. He should not spoil [State BJP leader] Devendra Fadnavis’ name,” Mr. Jarange Patil said while addressing a rally in Jamner.
The activist, who had earlier hinted of a willingness to extend the December 24 ‘deadline’ for the government to grant a quota for the Marathas, now exhorted the CM and the two Deputy CMs (Mr. Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar) to “get serious” about the quota issue and ensure that the reservation was giving within December 24 else things would get difficult for the State government soon.
