Jarange-Patil: What guarantee of Maratha quotas if stir is called off?

Quaid Najmi
Maratha quotas but sought time, Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil refused to call off his eight-day-long hunger strike in Antarwali-Sarati village, and threatened to go off water from Wednesday night.

The meeting, convened by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, had appealed for Jarange-Patil’s cooperation and urged him to end the hunger strike and also an end to the orgy of violence that has gripped some parts of Maharashtra for the last four days.

“After eight days of my hunger strike, the government wants time? How much time do they want and why? What’s the guarantee that if we give them more time we will actually get the quotas? They should not ask for such extensions only to kill time,” Jarange-Patil told mediapersons while lying on his mattress on a dais in the village.

Earlier, the Maratha activist had said he had no faith in the CM, and on Wednesday he went a step further to say bitterly that “all the political parties are the same, they have been just ignoring the Marathas’ questions.”

Jarange-Patil reiterated his demand that unless complete quotas were granted to the community, he would continue his hunger strike and make it more stringent from Wednesday night.

“I have no interest in what was discussed in the all-party meeting… I want replies. Are you going to issue the ‘Kunbi Caste’ certificates to all Marathas? Tell us your views, the Marathas want to know. Marathas never cheat or betray anybody…” he said taking a swipe at the political leadership of Maharashtra.

Throwing the gauntlet at BJP’s Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, he said, “Let Fadnavis come here and meet us… the Marathas won’t stop him, we will also ensure his security… We invited him for talks but he didn’t come… They are deliberately provoking the community by asking for time… I will discuss with my team and decide.”

Slamming Fadnavis, the Shivba Sanghatana chief said that now the government is targetting the children of Marathas by lodging criminal cases against them for the violence earlier this week.

On the shutdown of Internet in some places like Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar or Beed in the past couple of days, Jarange-Patil termed it as “a conspiracy of the government” intended to defame the Maratha agitation for quotas.

His stern comments came hours after the all-party meeting adopted a unanimous resolution, committing to giving the Maratha quotas, but seeking more time for it.

The meeting was attended by around 32 leaders including Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, Congress state President Nana Patole, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Leader of Opposition (Council) Ambadas Danve, Leader of Opposition (Assembly) Vijay Wadettiwar, and others.

The resolution said, “We are unanimous about giving reservation to Marathas. This can be done only after completing the legal formalities to ensure reservation that can withstand legal scrutiny. For this all political parties are ready to work together.”

“The legal formalities shall be completed as soon as possible. However, it must be given sufficient time, that we have to take into consideration,” added the resolution, reiterating the CM’s stance in the last few days.

“The kind of violence that has flared in the state is not proper and is giving a bad name to the Maratha quota agitation. We are strongly against such violence. Nobody should take the law into their hands. We appeal to maintain the law and order situation in the state,” said the leaders of all the political parties.

They also appealed for Jarange-Patil’s cooperation with the government and to call off his eight-day-long hunger strike, said the resolution signed by the CM and all the leaders present.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: [email protected])