Three days after he called off his Mumbai march, Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Tuesday announced an indefinite hunger strike at Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna from February 10 and came down heavily on deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contradictory statement. “The (draft) notification is strong enough to ensure issuance of Kunbi certificates even to the blood relatives (sage soyare) in the family tree. But the ambiguity on the stand taken by some leaders is a cause for concern. If the state government has assured us with the implementation of the notification, why has the deputy chief minister been talking about approaching the Central government,” he asked.
“The community is in doubt after the contradictory statements by the leaders. I, therefore, have decided to begin the protest again,” he added.Jarange-Patil was referring to Fadnavis’s statement on Monday when the BJP leader said the draft notification did not guarantee Kunbi certificates to all Marathas and the certificates would be issued only after the applicant furnished proper records. “Until the BJP is in power, we will not let the OBCs face injustice. If needed, we will speak to our leadership (in Delhi).”Jarange-Patil on Tuesday questioned why the deadline was till February 16 when the mandatory timeline of the 15 days would end on February 9. “We are ready to give time till February 16 if the government wants, but they should start the implementation immediately from tomorrow. It is for them to decide how they want to do it. They can do so by convening a special session of the state legislature,” he said.
The activist also alleged that the committee, headed by retired Bombay high court judge Sandeep Shinde, to facilitate the issuance of the Kunbi certificates had stopped working in Marathwada and no new Kunbi documents were searched by it. He also reiterated his demand of making the Hyderabad gazette of 1984 and the Bombay state gazette available to the committee to help it find the pre-independence records related to Kunbi. He also expressed his dismay over the government’s failure to withdraw cases lodged against protestors during agitations. In a related development, Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes (MSCBC) has extended the deadline for the survey being conducted across the state to check the backwardness of the Maratha community by two days. The survey, which is being conducted through 1.5 lakh enumerators in 2.5 lakh households, will now continue till February 2. The MSCBC reviewed the status of the survey in a meeting on Tuesday.