In a bid to challenge Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, leaders from the Other Backward Class (OBC) communities on Friday staged a massive rally at Ambad tehsil of Jalna district, countering the Maratha community’s demand for reservation from the OBC share.
Ambad is about 25 km from the Antarwali Sarati village where Mr. Jarange-Patil had launched a hunger strike for the demand of Maratha quota first in August and again in October.
Also read: What has led to the Maratha quota agitation? | Explained
The leaders, cutting across party lines, said that the State government should resist yielding to the Maratha community’s pressure. “The State government should not succumb to the pressure of the Maratha community,” the leaders said.
Maharashtra Minister and prominent OBC figure Chhagan Bhujbal said existing reservation for OBCs should not be diminished while considering reservations for the Marathas. He criticised Mr. Jarange-Patil for recent statements made and questioned the sudden emergence of records depicting Marathas as belonging to Kunbi caste.
Following Mr. Jarange-Patil’s hunger strike, the Maharashtra government decided to issue Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas with historical records from Nizam’s Hyderabad State , enabling them to avail OBC quota benefits.
Speaking at the OBC Bhatke Vimukt Jaat Aarakshan Bachao Yalgaar Sabha’ (rally for saving the reservation of OBCs and Nomadic Tribes), Mr. Bhujbal, the NCP leader from Ajit Pawar’s faction, stressed that OBCs have constitutional reservations approved by the Supreme Court and asserted that the OBCs do not oppose Maratha reservations, but they insist on safeguarding their own quota.
The rally saw the attendance of several influential OBC leaders cutting across party lines, including Congress leaders Vijay Wadettiwar, Rajesh Rathod, BJP MLC Gopichand Padalkar, Prakash Shendge and Mahadev Jankar. Notably, BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde was absent from the event.
“He [Mr. Jarange-Patil] says we have taken away their [Maratha community] reservation for 70 years. Are we taking away something that belongs to Jarange’s family? We do not oppose Maratha reservation, but there should be no encroachment on the OBC quota,” the Minister said.
He also questioned the discovery of records showing Maratha families as Kunbi caste members, an OBC community. “Initially 5,000 records were found in Marathwada which was part of the Nizam’s Hyderabad State [before 1948]. Later the number went up to 13,500....Even when there were elections in Telangana, the number went up,” Mr. Bhujbal said.
He urged OBC leaders to conduct similar rallies in every taluka across the State and advocated for an immediate caste census to clarify the situation.
Further, the NCP leader criticised Mr. Jarange-Patil’s call to prevent politicians from entering villages until Marathas secured reservation, stating the importance of democracy and urging the removal of boards restricting leaders’ entry.
“The truth of the incident (of lathicharge) did not come out. Police officers were suspended, which demoralized them. As a result, police did not act in the Beed city and Majalgaon (where the Maratha quota agitation turned violent last month),” he said.
Mr. Wadettiwar, Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra, echoed the demand for caste census and warned against eating on OBC reservations. “We will soon meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demand a caste-wise census. Everything will be clear if this census is done,” he added.
