New Delhi: The Maharashtra state government has accepted the demands of Maratha Protestors over reservations, said Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil, declaring that the protest is over and that he will break his fast by drinking juice from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s hands.
Patil has been on a hunger strike in Mumbai since Friday demanding reservation in education and jobs for the community under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. His demands included Kunbi certificates for all Marathas, free education from kindergarten to postgraduate level, and reservation of seats for Marathas in government job recruitments. So far, 37 lakh Kunbi certificates have been given, and the number will go up to 50 lakh, he said. Kunbi refers to Other Backward Classes (OBC), according to NDTV.
The Maratha protestors, who were all set to march towards Mumbai today, are now celebrating what they call a “massive success.” While addressing supporters on Friday, Jarange Patil said that he would not leave for Mumbai and would wait for the state government to issue a GR by Saturday morning. He also congratulated Chief Minister Shinde for his efforts, CNBC reported.
The 40-year-old had threatened to march to Mumbai’s Azad Maidan for a massive protest if their demands were not met. “If the government does not agree, then we will show what we can do,” Patil had said.
CM Shinde will meet Jarange Patil today and could mark the end of the latest leg of protest by the Maratha community seeking reservation.
The latest leg began in August last year, when Jarange Patil began a hunger strike demanding full reservation for the Maratha community. Protests took a violent turn after protestors were lathi-charged in September, post which, multiple rounds of talks began between Jarange Patil and the state government.
Maharashtra’s state government had promised to look into the records of Kunbi Marathas, whose records are documented during the Nizam era. Jarange Patil demanded that the 54 lakh Kunbi Marathas, whose records were found by the government, should be added to the same OBC category along with their relatives. Kunbi Marathas were given OBC status in 2004. He had warned that if certificates were not provided to these Marathas by January 20, he would march towards Mumbai. The state govt claimed that the state machinery was working on it but it wasn’t possible to complete this mammoth task by January 20.
Following this, Jarange Patil began his march from Jalna on January 20 along with lakhs of supporters with the intention to protest at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on Republic Day. The protestors were camping in Vashi, Navi Mumbai on Friday night when the protests were called off after their demands were accepted by the state government.
