Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde. (File: News18)
The Maratha quota issue returned to centre stage when the police last week baton-charged a violent mob at Antarwali Sarati after protesters allegedly refused to let authorities shift Jarange to hospital
With Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange warning that he would intensify his ongoing hunger strike from the weekend, a five-member delegation left for Mumbai from here on Friday evening to hold talks with Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Jarange, whose hunger strike for reservation for the Maratha community at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district entered 11th day on Friday, told reporters that he will stop taking even IV fluids if no solution was found by Saturday evening.
He has demanded that the government drop the requirement to provide evidence of genealogy for the Marathas from the Marathwada area if they want to obtain the Kunbi caste certificates and avail of reservation under the OBC category.
The five-member delegation which included Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) leader Arjun Khotkar, divisional commissioner Madhukar Rajeardad, the sarpanch of Antarwali Sarati village and two quota activists flew to Mumbai from Aurangabad airport in the evening, Khotkar told PTI.
They would meet Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar late at night, he said.
Earlier in the day, Jarange appealed to the community that the agitation for quota should continue through lawful means and not by “pelting stones”.
”They should agitate within the legal framework. There is no need to agitate by pelting stones,” he said.
The state government on Thursday issued a Government Resolution (GR) saying that Kunbi caste certificates would be issued only after the Maratha community members from the Marathwada region provide genealogical records from the Nizam era. The region was once a part of the Nizam-ruled Hyderabad state.
Kunbis, a community associated with agriculture-related occupations, are grouped under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category and enjoy reservation benefits in education and government jobs.
The Maratha quota issue returned to centre stage when the police last week baton-charged a violent mob at Antarwali Sarati after protesters allegedly refused to let authorities shift Jarange to hospital.
Several persons, including 40 police personnel, were injured and more than 15 state transport buses were set ablaze in the violence.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
