Maratha reservation issue: Manoj Jarange announces suspension of indefinite fast

Jarange had launched a fresh hunger strike at his village in central Maharashtra's Jalna district last week on June 8 reiterating his demand of reservation for the Marathas under the OBC category.

Mumbai: Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil ended his six-day hunger strike and suspended agitation on Thursday. Jarange gave a one month's time to to the Maharashtra government for implementation of the draft notification on ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widens the scope of the quota.

He said that if the demands are not fulfilled in 30 days, neither the opposition members nor those in the government should come to the protesters.

"We will defeat the candidates (in the state assembly elections) by declaring their names,” he said.

Jarange-Patil, the founder of Shiva Sanghatana, has started another round of hunger strike on June 8 at Antarwali Sarathi in Ambad tehsil of Jalna district.

Jarange-Patil ended the strike after a delegation of the government comprising state Excise Minister Shamburaj Desai and Aurangabad MP Sandipan Bhumre met him at his village and sought time.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in the Council Ambadas Danve met him too. He has given a deadline till July 13 to the government.

"We are giving a month’s time to the government to fulfil the demands of the Maratha community,” he said.

He said that the Marathas will also go ahead with preparations for the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections in the state.

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 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.