Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan met Maratha activist Manoj Jarange in Jalna on Thursday to discuss the community’s quota demands. Chavan said the need for the Eknath Shinde government to make a prompt decision on these demands. The meeting, described by Chavan as a courtesy visit, was also an opportunity to check on Jarange's health, following his recent illness in Satara.
"I wanted to meet him in Satara but could not as he left early. So I have come here to Antarwali Sarati. He has been agitating for the Maratha community. I asked about his health. He is leading a selfless agitation," Chavan said.
"Although the Mandal Commission and Kaka Kalelkar Commission did not classify the Marathas as backward, the community is included in the Other Backward Classes category in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. As a result, the Congress-NCP government decided to grant them 16 percent reservation," Chavan stated.
We asked the state OBC commission to find out the ground reality about the community's backwardness but it refused claiming the community does not need quota. Landless labourers and those with small plots are in distress and finding it tough to spend on education.
Chavan noted that the reservation for Maratha and Muslim communities, introduced by the Congress-NCP government in July 2014, was not advanced by the subsequent BJP-Shiv Sena administration led by Devendra Fadnavis.