Marathas assured of 'conditional' quota in recruitment drive

Devendra Fadnavis

Members of Maharashtra's Maratha community may celebrate a small victory as the state government has announced that 16% jobs that are created and filled henceforth will go to them. However, the declaration came with a rider, that the reservation would be given only when the Bombay High Court endorses a recommendatory report of the backward class commission, which has been constituted to establish that the community needs such reservation in education and jobs.

The Maratha community constitutes a strong pressure group that can make or oust a government. The Congress had attempted to woo it but the HC rejected its proposal. The BJP, too, is pursuing a demand for reservation through an appeal before the court.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made an announcement to this effect when the adjournment motions were tabled in both Houses. He said the government had planned to fill 72,000 vacancies and 16% of them would be filled once a favourable decision is sought. The seats thus kept vacant would be treated as a backlog for the Maratha community, he said.

The Opposition and BJP's Maratha legislators demanded a quota in view of statewide protests that have been revived by the community. The reservation was first announced by the Congress-NCP government ahead of the 2014 elections, but it did not stand in HC, which, however, hadn't stayed a 5% quota in education for Muslims. The BJP government had appealed before the court seeking revision of the decision in a quota for Marathas.

Opposition seeks credit
Congress and NCP leaders celebrated the assurance. Leaders of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (assembly) and Dhananjay Munde (council) spoke aggressively on the demand.

"The government declared a massive recruitment drive even as the decision on Marathas is pending. The community is upset and it may lead to a law and order situation," said Patil, adding that the government should also think over a similar demand from Muslim and Dhangar communities.

Munde said the BJP was out to kill the Maratha agitation on the lines of identical protests in Rajasthan (Jat community) and Gujarat (Patel community). "Is there any guarantee if there is no further quota when the 16% vacancies reserved for Marathas are filled in future?" he said.

Need a focused stand: Shelar
From BJP only MLA Ashish Shelar spoke on the issue. He did not spare his own government and sought to know the deadline for submission of the backward class commission report. "The (BJP) government should not have a bogus stand like the Congress government, but it should be focused (on what it plans to do)," he said.

Don't create trouble in Pandharpur: CM
Assuring a positive approach in demands from Maratha and Dhangar communities, CM Fadnavis has appealed to the protesters from both sections to not create any trouble for the devotees of the revered deity Vitthal who will throng Pandharpur on July 23 on the occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi. Traditionally, the CM and his wife do the puja of the deity early morning on the day. The protesters have announced that they will not allow the CM to enter the town where 25 lakh devotees congregate. "Please don't agitate so that the warkaris [devotees] are not inconvenienced," he said.

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