On Monday night, activist Manoj Jarange declared the initiation of a chain hunger strike across all villages in Maharashtra starting from December 1. The strike aims to advocate for reservation rights for members of the Maratha community. Jarange also accused political parties of collaborating in a conspiracy to deny Maratha community members their rightful quota benefits.
Jarange, spearheading the latest agitation seeking reservation for the Marathas in government jobs and education under the OBC category, said the pro-quota stir has reached a decisive stage and community members will fight for their right by remaining within four walls of law and through non-violent means.
Speaking at a highly attended rally in Navi Mumbai, the activist confidently stated that no amount of misleading tactics from his detractors would deter him. He emphasized his deep connection to the Maratha community, declaring that he is in the blood of Marathas, and affirmed his commitment to persist in the fight for reservation.
He further argued that if the Marathas had been granted reservation 75 years ago, they would have thrived, gained recognition, and assumed prominent roles in all-India services such as the IAS and IPS by now. A well-planned conspiracy has been hatched by all the political parties to keep us deprived of reservation,” alleged Jarange, who has given the Maharashtra government time till December 24 to resolve the quota issue.
He said government records are now coming out to show that Kunbis, already classified as a social group under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category and enjoying quota benefits, were once treated as a sub-caste within the Maratha community. Now after we have given them hard push they have started getting records (of Kunbis as a sub-caste within the Maratha community) after claiming such documents do not exist at all, he said.
Jarange vowed to continue fighting till Marathas get reservation benefits. If records show reservations existed for the Marathas in the past, then we demand to know the person who did not allow extension of this benefit to community members. What sin we have committed to not get reservations? he questioned.