Granting a nearly month-long reprieve to the Eknath Shinde-led government concerning the Maratha reservation issue, pro-quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Saturday announced an indefinite strike at Azad Maidan in Mumbai from January 20 to intensify his demands for reservation to the community.
Mr. Jarange-Patil was addressing a mega rally in Marathwada region’s Beed district. In his address, he said that “crores of people from the Maratha community” will march to Mumbai on January 20.
Later in the evening, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde released a video statement that said the Supreme Court has accepted the curative petition filed by the State government pertaining to the Maratha reservation issue and has scheduled a hearing on January 24. “This has come as a ray of hope for the community. The state government’s legal team comprising a team of efficient lawyers will present its view before the Supreme Court and make all efforts to prove that the Maratha community is socially and economically backward. The State Backward Commission has been gathering empirical data at a large scale on the Maratha community and its plight. The observations of the Supreme Court [while striking down the reservation] will be taken into cognisance while gathering empirical data about the Maratha community,” he said in the video statement.
