GR on Kunbis not enough, says Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: In order to quell the hunger fast of Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil, the state on Thursday issued a government resolution (GR) to form a committee, led by retired judge Sandeep Shinde, to examine and set up the process of providing Marathas from Marathwada who have Nizam-era documents with Kunbi caste certificates. This will allow them to avail of OBC reservations since the Kunbi caste comes in the OBC category.
Patil, however, said he was not satisfied and demanded that all Marathas be included in the Kunbi category. “The condition of genealogy documents should be relaxed because none of us have any. We request that this should be removed from the GR and the Kunbi reservation should be given to all Marathas of Maharashtra,” he said. The documents required include genealogical proof, revenue and educational documents, national documents and contracts signed in the Nizam era.
OBC groups are against the blanket acceptance of all Marathas in the Kunbi category and have warned of a state-wide agitation. They say only Marathas with Kunbi caste proof from the Nizam era should get the Kunbi certificate. “Even OBCs who lack caste proof do not get reservations. If the Marathas do not have the required documents, why should they still get the Kunbi quota? This is a conspiracy to push Marathas into the OBC quota,” said Sachin Rajurkar of Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh, which has called for an OBC Mahapanchayat, on Friday.
“The blanket inclusion of all Marathas in the OBC category will amount to contempt of court since the Maratha quota was rejected by the Supreme Court,” Chandrakant Bavkar of OBC Jan Morcha. “In order to avail of reservations, the Maratha community will have to be proven to be socially backward through a survey,” he pointed out.
The Kunbi (peasant) community is in the OBC category in Maharashtra. When the Marathwada region was part of the Hyderabad province till the 1960s, the Marathas there were counted as Kunbis. When the region became part of Maharashtra, many were counted as Marathas and not OBCs. It has been a long-standing demand of the agitators to restore their status as Kunbis so that they can avail of the OBC quota.
Meanwhile, CM Eknath Shinde tried to pacify both groups. “The government is very serious about Maratha reservations. We will provide empirical data to prove that the community is socially and educationally backward so we can present our case in the Supreme Court. We will not allow the quota of other groups to be affected,” he said.