Jarange-Patil to hold 14-day statewide tour for Maratha reservation

Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil is set to launch a statewide tour for Maratha reservation. The 14-day tour is going to start from this month end and conclude on October 13, when the 30-day ultimatum given to the state government for providing reservation will end.The tour is to remind the government of the promise they made to give us reservation. It has been planned in such a way that it will end when the 30-day ultimatum also ends - October 13,” Jarange-Patil told HT.

Jarange-Patil said that he will try to cover most of the districts of the state. The details of the tour is likely to be announced on Monday. “We have also planned a sabha (gathering) outside Antarwali Sarathi village on October 14 where the community will be asked to not give up until we will get what is our right,” he added.It was Jarange-Patil who started an indefinite hunger strike demanding reservation for the community at Antarwali Sarathi village on September 29. On the fourth day, when a police contingent tried to forcibly admit him to hospital, a clash ensued between the police and Jarange-Patil’s supporters. After the lathi charge, teargas shells and “police brutality” made the headlines, the hitherto unknown Maratha activist burst into the political limelight. On September 14, he called off the hunger strike after accepting juice from chief minister Shinde who also assured him of providing reservation to the Maratha community.