Jarange-Patil suspends fast and sets one-month deadline for Maratha quota demand

Pro-Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Thursday agreed to end his indefinite strike six days after it began, giving the Eknath Shinde-led government a month’s time to accept the community’s demands.

While ending his hunger strike in his native village of Antarwali Sarati in Jalna, the activist continued to put pressure on the ruling party leaders to go ahead with preparations for the upcoming general elections despite setting a one-month deadline.

On June 8, he began his new round of indefinite hunger strike demanding implementation of a bill that would recognise all blood relatives of members of the Maratha community as Kunbis, an agrarian group classified as Other Backward Class (OBC) community and entitled to quota benefits. He also demanded the drafting of a law recognising Kunbis as Marathas and warned that if his demands were not met, he would field candidates for all 288 Assembly seats in the state elections.

Mr Jarange-Patil announced his decision to break the fast after Minister of State and member of the Sub-Committee on Maratha Quota Shamburaj Desai and Shiv Sena MP-elect from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) Sandipan Bhumre met him and discussed the issue. Earlier, State Health Minister Tanaji Sawant and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Ambadad Danve also called on the activist.

“We are giving the government a month to meet the demands of the Maratha community. However, we will continue our preparations for the upcoming assembly election. If the government does not give us reservation, we will take it ourselves,” he said while addressing the crowd at the protest site. He warned, “If the demands are not met within a month, neither opposition members nor government officials should approach us. We will defeat their candidates in the state assembly elections by nominating them.”

After meeting Mr Jarange-Patil, Mr Desai said a meeting would be held on Friday to discuss the issue. “Out of five months, two months have passed in which we have followed the code of conduct (for the Lok Sabha elections). We will take a positive decision on the demands of the Maratha community in a month. If additional manpower is required to expedite the work, we will do so with the permission of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde,” he said.

Mr. Danve added that it was the responsibility of the Chief Minister to meet the demands of the Maratha community and said, “The government has deceived the people of Vashi by giving them the draft notification (against Mr. Jarange-Patil’s demands). If the government has issued a notification, a decision has to be taken.”