Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Wednesday asserted that his community would never permit caste riots across Maharashtra while remarking that even other backward class (OBC) members in the State’s rural hinterlands had begun chastising OBC leaders who spoke against Maratha reservation.
Addressing a packed rally in Igatpuri in Nashik district, the stronghold of his bete noire – Maharashtra Minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal, Mr. Jarange Patil launched a frontal attack on the former, recalling Mr. Bhujbal’s alleged involvement in the Maharashtra Sadan scam case.
“Public money was looted and therefore you [Mr. Bhujbal] had to go behind bars… I know where you [Mr. Bhujbal] used to sell vegetables, whose bungalows you have grabbed, what all you did in Mumbai,” the activist said.
Mr. Bhujbal, along with his relatives, was named as an accused by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2016 in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan case in which the erstwhile Congress-NCP government had given out a contract to build a new Maharashtra Sadan building in New Delhi, allegedly without inviting tenders.
Alluding to the recent OBC rally spearheaded by Mr. Bhujbal which was held in Jalna district (Mr. Jarange Patil’s stronghold), the activist said that while initially he merely opposed the OBC leaders for his views, he now opposed him on a personal level as well.
“Earlier, we used to oppose him for his views. While such differences are part of Maharashtra’s political tradition, now I oppose him as a person as well. Why is he continuously uttering statements that can harm relations between Marathas and OBCs. This person, who is occupying a constitutional post and whose duty it is to maintain law and order, is making statements which could cause riots between Maratha and OBC communities. But we will never let this happen,” Mr. Jarange Patil said.
The last few days have seen a raging verbal duel between Mr. Bhujbal, a key member of the ruling Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction and Mr. Jarange Patil, causing many leaders to express concern at fault-lines emerging between OBC and Maratha communities as a result of this prolonged slanging match.
He reiterated that while there was complete amity between ordinary Maratha and OBC community members in Maharashtra’s rural hinterland, a select group of OBC leaders had realized that there was no alternative to denying Marathas reservation under the OBC category other than by creating riots between the two communities.
“They [a group of OBC leaders] have now come to know that Marathas will get reservation by being included under the OBC category. So, their only course of action is to heighten social tensions. But, even in villages, OBCs are openly speaking out against their community leaders who are opposing Maratha reservation. In villages, OBCs and Marathas run to each other’s aid. There is a strong feeling of amity,” Mr. Jarange Patil said.
The activist, who has given the ruling Eknath Shinde-led government time till December 24 to give a blanket reservation to all Marathas under the Kunbi OBC category, claimed that 32 lakh proofs had been found till date which showed the Marathas to be OBCs.
