Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde
Credit: DH Photo
Mumbai: In what compounds the problem for the Eknath Shinde-led Maha Yuti (NDA) government, two OBC activists are undertaking a hunger strike against the dilution of their quota because of the widening of the scope of the Maratha reservation.
Prof Laxman Hake, a former member of the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission and Navnath Waghmare, the president of Samata Parishad’s Jalna unit, are undertaking a protest near the Datta Mandir at Wadigodri village, which is around a kilometre away from Antarwali Sarathi village, where Manoj Jarange-Patil holds his agitation.
Jarange Patil, the founder of Shivba Sanghatana, on June 13 ended his six-day hunger strike, the fifth one that he had undertaken, while giving 30 days to the government until July 13 to implement the draft notification on ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widens the scope of the quota.
Prof Hake commenced the fast-unto-death on June 13, the day Jarange-Patil ended his agitation.
Before launching the agitation, prof Hake said: “We are committed to continuing our protest until we are given a written assurance by the state government that our existing 29% OBC reservation will remain intact”.
It may be mentioned that OBC leaders, including state’s Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar have been opposing the dilution of the OBC quota and grant separate quotas from the OBCs, plus the formal notification of the ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widened the scope of the quota.