Maratha leader rejects Maharashtra govt’s quota solution

Manoj Jarange assured his community and the government that he will continue to take the saline drip and drink water. Pic/Agencies

After the Maharashtra government offered Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas in Marathwada to avail of OBC benefits, protest leader Manoj Jarange refused to end his fast unto death and demanded an amendment in the genealogy clause in the government resolutions (GR) issued on Wednesday night. Jarange, who began his fast on August 29, rejected Chief Minister (CM) Eknath Shinde's call to end his protest on Thursday.

Jarange asked the government to remove the condition that a Maratha family's genealogy, which proved that its past generations were registered as Kunbi/Maratha-kunbi/Kunbi-Maratha in the erstwhile Nizam state, has to be the basis for granting the Kunbi caste certificate. Jarange has been fasting to get the Marathas in Marathwada the OBC concession and for the larger issue of the restoration of quota in jobs and education. The quota was scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2021 for breaching the 50 per cent cap on social reservations and over the state government's lack of due diligence to establish the community's backwardness.

CM's rep meets Jarange

Following Jarange's rejection of the two GRs on Thursday, the CM's representative, Arjun Khotkar, visited Antarwali Sarati, a small town near Jalna, inviting Jarange for a discussion with the government in Mumbai. Jarange was also given the option to send a delegation if he couldn't travel because of health conditions. Jarange chose the second option, insisting that the GRs were of no use because his community members did not have genealogy records.

Manoj Jarange began his fast on August 29 (right) CM Eknath Shinde sent his representative to meet Jarange on Thursday

"I welcome the GRs and the government's sincerity, but the condition of genealogy must be removed, and all Marathas must be given the Kunbi certificates without any hurdle or condition. Our delegation will go to Mumbai," Jarange said, promising that he would continue to be on a saline drip and have water while fasting. He said he had promised his community and the government that he would not let his vitals deteriorate further. He appealed to restive Marathas across the state to maintain peace and desist from violent protests.

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The government representatives had met Jarange on Wednesday as well. "I had expressed my concern over a genealogy clause yesterday also. There is no need for a GR to collect the data from the Nizam state. We have collected the data which the government can use. We are not the government's enemies. We don't want to hold the government to ransom, but we are ready to step back if the government does the needful," Jarange said.

Khotkar said the government had agreed to withdraw the police cases registered against the protesters after the police lathi charge last weekend. The police action had led to massive protests across the state. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis had tendered an apology on behalf of the government for the lathi charge. The district police superintendent was sent on compulsory leave and the deputy superintendent was suspended. Additional Director General of Police Sanjay Saxena was appointed to probe the incident that has turned into a political slugfest between the ruling and opposition parties, which were involved in the Maratha quota process at a certain time, especially when they ruled the state jointly.

‘No injustice to OBCs'

In Mumbai, CM Shinde assured to restore the Maratha quota by establishing the backwardness of Marathas. "However, in doing that we will not do injustice to the others [OBCs who fear that Marathas will share their quota]," he said.

The state cabinet on Wednesday had come out with two solutions - to give Marathas who were notified as Kunbis in the erstwhile Nizam state the Other Backward Class (OBC) concessions, and to form a panel headed by a retired high court judge to decide the process of certification of Marathas in Marathwada as Kunbis, based on the genealogical documentary evidence.