Jarange-Patil reminds Shinde govt of his Dec 24 deadline on Maratha reservation

Hours after he was discharged from a private hospital where he was admitted 10 days back, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil reminded the state government of his December 24 deadline to provide reservation to the community.”I want to once again remind the government that December 24 is the deadline for announcing reservation to the Maratha community. I hope the government will live up to the promise that it made,” Jarange-Patil told reporters in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. He was accorded grand welcome en route to Antarwali Sarathi village (Ambad tehsil, Jalna district).However, Jarange-Patil, said that neither would he go to his home nor would he celebrate Diwali. “People have died by suicide demanding Maratha reservation. Hence I would not be celebrating Diwali,” the Shivba Sanghatana founder said. In the next couple of days, we would meet and chalk out our plans,” he said, adding that during his November 15-23 tour, he  would also be visiting Mumbai. “I would tour parts of Konkan, Marathwada and Western Maharashtra,” he said.

Jarange-Patil went on the first hunger strike from August 29-September 14, which he broke after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde assured the demands of issuance of Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas in Marathwada region and looked at options to give blanket reservation to the community. Thereafter, Jarange-Patil undertook a tour of various districts in the state and the deadline that he had given the Maharashtra government ended on October 24.From October 25, he again went on hunger strike, which he ended on November 2. This was after two separate delegations met him. The first one was led by Justice M G Gaikwad (Retd) and Justice Sunil Shukre (Retd), and including officials like Jalna’s District Collector Dr Shrikrishnanath Panchal and Superintendent of Police Shailesh Balkawade. 

Marathas, who constitute nearly 33% of the state's population, have been demanding the reservation in education and government jobs.It was in the year 1981 when the state saw its first protests demanding the Maratha reservation under the leadership of the Mathadi Labour Union leader Annasaheb Patil. The community has been seeking Kunbi caste certificates for Marathas which will enable their inclusion in the OBC category for reservation. Kunbis, who are associated with agriculture, are grouped under the OBC (Other Backward Classes) category in Maharashtra.Manoj Jarange-Patil, a local Maratha leader, have been sitting on a hunger strike at Antarwali Sarati village demanding reservations for the Maratha community in education and government jobs. It was only after his health deteriorated on the fourth day of the fast-unto-death agitation, that police intervened in the agitation. Jarange-Patil participated in more than 30 agitations for Maratha quota since 2011. In 2014 he led a huge rally at the Aurangabad divisional headquarters which established his identity as the front leader of the Maratha agitation across the state.