On the Maratha reservation, the former Maharashtra chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray, said a meeting was held yesterday by the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, but both the deputy chief ministers were not present, as per my information. One deputy chief minister is ill because of dengue, and another deputy chief minister went to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Raipur. When people are on the streets in your state, campaigning in other states is more important to you. Can such people give anything to society? When I met Manoj Jarange Patil, I had requested that he not take extreme steps. Warriors like him are needed by the state and society. There is no doubt that the Maratha community should get their rights.
The Maratha reservation movement, marked by peaceful protests in its initial stages, has evolved into a more confrontational phase, drawing attention to the demands for reservation in government jobs and education for the community under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. The agitation intensified after quota activist Manoj Jarange sat on an indefinite fast from October 25 at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna as part of the second phase of the protest. On his appeal, many villages have banned the entry of political leaders.