In a bid to counter Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil, leaders from the other backward class (OBC) communities will be staging a massive rally in Mr. Jarange Patil’s stronghold of Ambad tehsil in Jalna district.
The rally is likely to see the attendance of several influential OBC leaders cutting across party lines, including Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal of the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar group), Congress leader and Maharashtra Leader of the Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar as well as BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde among others.
Former legislator and OBC leader Prakash Shendge said the rally would be “historic” and that the country would see the fragmented OBC camps coming together.
“The Maratha quota agitation under Jarange Patil has gone out of hand. Violence had erupted during his second hunger strike, with homes of OBC MLAs homes being torched, offices and other establishments belonging to OBC members being vandalised and gutted. A Manipur-like situation will soon prevail in Maharashtra if he [Mr. Jarange Patil] is not reined in,” Mr. Shendge said.
Intense friction
The intense friction between the Marathas and the OBC communities has been kindled by Mr. Jarange Patil’s two hunger fasts, the second of which concluded early this month with the Eknath Shinde government caving in by agreeing to the activist’s demand of ensuring that Marathas be given OBC certificates by December 24.
Several OBC leaders like Mr. Bhujbal and Mr. Wadettiwar have spoken out against Mr. Jarange Patil’s aggressiveness and intransigent behaviour, forcing the government to declare blanket reservation for the Marathas by issuing them with OBC certificates declaring them as being Kunbi OBC members.
“Jarange Patil’s logic is that as the Marathas were once farmers, and given that Kunbi farmers have been inducted under the OBC category, therefore all Marathas be declared Kunbi OBCs. By these lights, the entire country, where almost everyone did farming at one time or the other, should be declared as OBCs. His logic is absurd. Until a caste survey is done, no one should be given Kunbi OBC certificates,” Mr. Shendge said.
Mr. Jarange Patil had recently warned Mr. Bhujbal that if he continued making anti-Maratha quota statements, then the Marathas would overthrow him in his constituency Yeola in Nashik district.
Responding to this, Mr. Shendge said, “If you try to outvote one Chhagan Bhujbal, then we OBCs will outvote 160 Maratha MLAs since 60% of the Maharashtra is made up of the OBC population.”
Alleges conspiracy
Mr. Jarange Patil riposted by saying that the OBC leaders had calculatedly hatched a conspiracy to put down the Maratha community and deny reservation to it for several decades.
“See the influence of OBC leaders for the last 70 years. It has ruined the lives of Maratha community members and the futures of their children. By a calculated conspiracy, they had thus far been hiding proofs which showed Marathas as OBC Kunbis,” the activist said.
Addressing a rally in Daund (in Pune district), Mr. Jarange Patil said the country had now seen the full strength of the Maratha community.
“No one can stop us from getting a quota before December 24. The State government has now started to work swiftly on this count,” he said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, who had met with Mr. Jarange Patil during the activist’s first hunger strike in September, now raised suspicions about the timing of the Maratha quota agitation just before the 2024 elections.
“I had already told Jarange Patil there would not be any reservation of the kind he is seeking. The question arises as to who is behind Jarange Patil’s movement? Was its purpose is to worsen the law and order in the State by heightening social tensions given that elections are round the corner?” Mr. Thackeray asked.
