The Maratha reservation issue is back to haunt the Eknath Shinde-led alliance government. Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Saturday held a massive show of strength of the community and gave a ten-day ultimatum to the government to include all Marathas in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category for reservation in government jobs and education. Now a controversy has erupted after Jarange stated that Fadnavis, Advocate Gunratna Sadavarte, chief minister Eknath Shinde, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal were playing “anti-Maratha politics”. The BJP and Sadavarte hit back at the activist, saying he was “speaking the language of the Sharad Pawar camp”.BJP leader and Fadnavis’ close aide Praveen Darekar alleged that Jarange-Patil was targeting Fadnavis on behalf of NCP leader Sharad Pawar. “Everyone knows that Fadnavis has no connection with Sadavarte,” he said. “Everyone knows how Fadnavis as CM gave reservation to the Maratha community. Despite this, Jarange-Patil is targeting him, as he belongs to a certain community. Jarange-Patil’s statements are politically motivated. This is the language generally used by NCP leader Sharad Pawar’s camp. One has to be able to see who the mastermind behind Jarange-Patil is,” said Darekar, himself a Maratha. The BJP leader also tried to downplay the show of strength at Jarange-Patil’s rally, saying that the Maratha community was always united in support of the demand for reservation.
“A crowd of lakhs of Marathas is not new,” he said. “In the past too, the Maratha community gathered in large numbers without any leader. They support the cause, not any particular leader.” Advocate Sadavarte, who had earlier demanded Jarange-Patil’s arrest, reiterated that the activist was speaking on behalf of Sharad Pawar. “He is speaking in political language and making false allegations,” he said. “He is also confused about his demands. Earlier, he was demanding Kunbi certificates to those who were registered as Kunbis during Nizam rule. Now he is demanding Kunbi caste certificates and OBC reservation for all Marathas. He has no knowledge of how reservation is given to any community.”OBC leader and food and civil supplies minister Chagan Bhujbal refuted Jarange-Patil’s remark that he had become a major leader due to the support of the Maratha community.
Jarange-Patil sprang into the limelight following his 17-day hunger strike from August 29 to September 14 at Antarvali Sarati village in Jalna district. The agitation grabbed public attention due to the police lathi charge on the Maratha crowd. The videos of the lathi charge evoked strong reactions, forcing the government to react. Shinde himself met Jarange-Patil and announced steps to consider his demand, mainly to give Kunbi certificates (a sub-caste of the Maratha community which is included in the OBC category) to those Marathas who could prove they were categorised as Kunbis before independence.As the activist’s one-month deadline to the government ended on Saturday, Jarange-Patil organised a grand rally at Antaravli Sarati village to remind the government that it only had a 10-day grace period left. Lakhs of people turned up, leading him to declare triumphantly that the crowd was “a slap on the face” of people who said the Maratha community could never unite.