On Tuesday, a delegation of the Maharashtra government, comprising ministers was unable to persuade Manoj Jarange to end his protest of the Maratha quota, which had entered its eighth day.
Jarange, who has been holding the hunger protest in Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, said he would stop drinking water and fluids after four days if a favourable decision on quota is not taken.
Jarange has already received two requests from the government to end the fast, but he has refused. Last Friday, after protesters allegedly refused to allow officials to transport Jarange, who has been on a fast since 29 August, to the hospital, police baton charged and fired tear gas shells to disperse a violent mob in Antarwali Sarathi hamlet.
On Tuesday, Minister of Tourism Girish Mahajan along with his cabinet colleagues Sandipan Bhumre and Atul Save met Jarange and urged him to call off the protest. They were joined by MLAs Narayan Kuche, Rajesh Tope and ex-legislator Arjun Khotkar. Mahajan asked Jarange to accompany them to Mumbai and hold talks with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on the issue, but he refused.
The government will have four days. I would stop drinking water, juice, and IV fluids if the government doesn't publish a GR (resolution) about the Maratha reservation, he warned Mahajan. The government needs at least 30 days to decide because of some technical difficulties. We need to do concrete work on this issue. But the decision can come even before that. We are concerned about your health, Mahajan said.
Jarange said the delegation returned to Mumbai after a call couldn’t get connected for further talks. The delegation members said they would come back tomorrow, he said. Reservation in jobs and education provided by the Maharashtra government to the Maratha community in 2018 when Fadnavis was chief minister was quashed by the Supreme Court in May 2021, citing the 50 per cent ceiling on total reservations among other grounds.