Activist Manoj Jarange begins fast unto death over Maratha quota issue; threatens to contest Assembly polls

Maratha reservation campaigner Manoj Jarange-Patil on Saturday started yet another hunger strike and launched a fresh round of agitation threatening to field candidates in all seats during the October Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections.

This fresh round of protest comes as a major challenge for the Eknath Shinde-led BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP dispensation, which has suffered heavy damage in the Lok Sabha elections because of the Maratha reservation issue and the OBC resistance.

The development comes months ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls.

Jarange-Patil has stationed himself at his village Antarwali Sarathi in Ambad tehsil of Jalna district.

Talking to reporters, Jarange-Patil demanded the implementation of the formal notification of the ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widens the scope of the quota.

“If our demands are not met we won't hesitate in fielding candidates in all the 288 Vidhan Sabha seats,” said Jarange-Patil, the founder of Shivba Sanghatana.

In February, the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Bill, 2024, was passed in the state legislature, paving the way for 10 per cent reservation.

Last year, the government, in a parallel exercise, had also searched for Kunbi-Maratha and Maratha-Kunbi records and as per Jarange-Patil’s claims 57 lakh records have been found.

Kunbis form a sub-caste of the Maratha and are covered under OBCs - and thus the certificates would enable them to get reservation in jobs and education.

However, Jarange-Patil’s demand is to declare the Marathas as Kunbis 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.

Maratha Reservation: The agitation so far

Manoj Jarange-Patil had undertaken the first hunger strike from August 29-September 14, 2023 which he broke after Shinde assured the demands of issuance of Maratha-Kunbi and Kunbi-Maratha caste certificates to Marathas in Marathwada region and looked at options to give blanket reservation to the community.

From October 14-24, 2023, Manoj Jarange-Patil undertook a tour of parts of the state.

From October 25, 2023, Manoj Jarange-Patil again undertook the hunger strike which ended on November 2, after nine days, after a government delegation met him and convinced him of the work being done.

The government expanded the scope of Kunbi certificates from Marathwada to the entire Maharashtra.

From November 15-23, 2023, Manoj Jarange-Patil undertook another tour of parts of the state.

On January 20, 2024 Manoj Jarange-Patil marched out of his village Antarwali Sarathi in Jalna and reached Navi Mumbai on January 25.

From January 26, 2024, coinciding with 75th Republic Day, Manoj Jarange-Patil commenced another fast-unto-death agitation.

On January 27, 2024, he withdrew the fast after Eknath Shinde came out with a draft notification “Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000” and defined “sage-soyare” (blood relations), which includes relatives of the applicant’s father, grandfather, great grandfather and in earlier generations forming out of marriages within the same castes and will include relations forming out of marriages within the same caste.

Then on February 10, 2024, Patil launched another round of hunger strike.

He called off the 17-day-long strike on February 26, 2024.