Manoj Jarange Patil Calls Off Mumbai March Over Maratha Quota Demand, Gives Maharashtra Govt 90 Days

Mumbai: As Manoj Jarange Patil calls off his latest scheduled hunger strike in Mumbai, the Maratha reservation agitation has entered a temporary pause. On the 20th day of his hunger strike, the quota activist has agreed to give the Maharashtra government another 90 days to act on the assurances extended to him, warning that any failure to meet the commitments will bring the protest back to Mumbai.

Government holds talks with activist

The state government stepped in late on Wednesday, deploying a delegation of ministers and ruling party MLAs to hold talks with activist Manoj Jarange Patil and find a solution to the issue. The delegation, led by Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (chairman of the state government’s sub-committee on Maratha reservation), met Jarange Patil and discussed his demand for the issuance of Kunbi certificates to members of the Maratha community.

After a detailed discussion, on Thursday morning, while everyone was expecting Patil to commence his journey towards Mumbai for protest, the activists, while addressing the media from Beed district (Marathwada region), announced the decision to call off their protest march to Mumbai, which was scheduled to reach Azad Maidan late Thursday night or early Friday morning.

Demands and protest timeline

According to ground reports, the activist has demanded that 58 lakh records from community members identified as Kunbi should remain untouched and caste certificates of those public representatives from Marathwada that were revoked should be legally revalidated.

Patil commenced his hunger strike on August 29 and on September 15 left Antarwali Sarati in Jalna to continue his hunger strike from Mumbai. Initially, according to plans, Patil was to take his first halt at Beed, followed by Shirgonda (Ahilyanagar), Pune and Raigad before reaching Mumbai on September 19. But on the second day of the march, as his health deteriorated during his first halt at Beed, he announced that he would cut short the tour and directly reach Mumbai. But with government intervention, the entire protest march stands cancelled.

Patil even demanded that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should clarify his stance on the demands made by him.

Government reacts to decision

Reacting to the development, Fadnavis said, “I am happy that the protest has been called off.”

Before starting his march, Jarange had asked Marathas to use guerrilla tactics and reach Mumbai without being identified by anyone.

Now that the protest has been suspended, Patil said, “I have asked all Marathas who have reached Mumbai to come back.”

Future course of agitation

Before starting the protest, Patil had earlier claimed that his 12th agitation in three years for Maratha reservation would not stop this time, as the government has always betrayed them by not honouring assurances given to the community.

Now that the agitation has been called off, Patil tried justifying his decision. “At times, to achieve bigger goals, one has to take two steps back. We have been fighting for three years. We trust the government and give them another three months. So this battle would be of three years and three months,” he added and warned that any failure in fulfilment of promises would turn into bigger mobilisation of community members in Mumbai for reservation.

Jarange is demanding the issuance of a Kunbi (OBC) certificate to all Maratha community members based on old government records and gazetteers (Hyderabad, Satara and Kolhapur).

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