A day after Minister and Other Backward Class (OBC) leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s broadside against activist Manoj Jarange Patil and the Maratha reservation issue, Congressman and Maharashtra Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Vijay Wadettiwar on November 19 said there should not be any fight or rift between the OBC and the Maratha communities.
Mr. Wadettiwar, an influential OBC leader from Vidarbha, had shared the dais with Mr. Bhujbal at a massive rally organised by OBC outfits in Jalna district on November 18 to counter Mr. Jarange Patil’s persistent demand of granting the Marathas a quota by giving them OBC certificates.
At the rally, Mr. Bhujbal, who has sharply voiced his opposition to Mr. Jarange Patil’s agitation, had warned that granting reservation to the Marathas from the OBC’s pie would lead to a showdown between the Marathas on one side and the OBCs and the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Muslims on the other.
Distancing himself from Mr. Bhujbal, a senior leader of the ruling Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction, Mr. Wadettiwar said he could not support the NCP’s leader’s stance.
“I cannot support Bhujbal’s stance. I will express my stance and that of the Congress. He [Mr. Bhujbal] belongs to another party,” Mr. Wadettiwar said during a tour of Nanded district on Sunday.
In an apparently conciliatory gesture towards Mr. Jarange Patil, the Congress leader said that his stance was not to create divisions between the two communities.
“We are of the opinion that OBCs should get their rights and that these rights ought to be safeguarded. At the same time, we do not want any schisms between the two communities. He [Jarange Patil] has a right to express demands for the Maratha community. The task of giving a quota to the Marathas rests with the State government,” Mr. Wadettiwar said.
Earlier, on November 13, Mr. Wadettiwar had written to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde demanding an increase in his security after he allegedly received threat messages following his criticism of Mr. Jarange Patil.
Last week, Mr. Wadettiwar had targeted Mr. Jarange Patil by accusing the activist of seeking “political mileage” in his stubborn demand that the Eknath Shinde government give Kunbi OBC certificates to all Marathas by December 24.
Even if Mr. Wadettiwar appeared to have softened his stance towards Mr. Jarange Patil, the activist, meanwhile, continued to accuse OBC leaders of hatching “a conspiracy” to economically suppress the Maratha community for decades.
Addressing a rally at Mahad in Raigad today, Mr. Jarange Patil said, “They [the OBC leaders] have hatched a conspiracy so that the children of the Marathas remain economically disempowered. It has proved successful so far. Committees have been formed in the past, yet the Marathas never received any reservation. The community remained guileless. However, that is about to change now.”
Reiterating his accusation that some OBC leaders had put pressure on successive State governments to deny Marathas their rights, Mr. Jarange Patil said that those leaders claiming that there were no proofs showing Marathas as Kunbi OBCs were now being proved wrong.
“Proofs are now being been found in every district and tehsil. So, who divided us for last 70 years?” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bhujbal’s remarks made during the Jalna OBC rally came under fire from former MP and Maratha community leader Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati.
Sambhajiraje, a direct descendant of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji, sought the removal of Mr. Bhujbal from the Maharashtra cabinet for trying to sow seeds of bitterness and create enmity between peace-loving Maratha and OBC communities.
