Residents in many villages of Maharashtra’s Dharashiv district on November 1 launched a ‘jail bharo’ (court arrest) protest in support of the Maratha quota agitation, an official said.
The jail bharo protest started in the district after local MLA Kailas Patil was detained by the Mumbai police for agitating here to demand reservation for Marathas in government jobs and education in the State.
Hundreds of Maratha activists gathered in Dharashiv city and Anandnagar Rural area in the morning to take part in the protest, the police official said.
At Kaudgaon, about 100 activists took part in a jail bharo protest between 10.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. Of them, 42 were detained under Section 68 of the Maharashtra Police Act, officials said.
A large number of policemen were deployed to maintain law and order in the district, they said.
The agitation intensified in the State after activist Manoj Jarange started an indefinite hunger strike to press the quota demand — for the second time since August — at his native village Antarwali Sarati in Jalna district on October 25.
Mr. Jarange had earlier sat on an indefinite fast in the last week of August and called it off on September 14 after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde assured to look into the quota demand. At that time, Mr. Jarange had set a deadline of 40 days.
The Maharashtra Government on Tuesday published an order asking officials to issue fresh Kunbi caste certificates to eligible Maratha community members from Marathwada, paving the way for them to avail reservation benefits under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
However, Mr. Jarange opposed the move saying the entire Maratha community should be given reservation.
Dharashiv man to return Kunbi caste certificate; seeks benefit for entire community
A Maratha community member from Dharashiv in Maharashtra, who was the first one to be given the Kunbi caste certificate in the district as part of the ongoing survey exercise, has decided to return the document to the authorities, saying he wants all Marathas in the state to be given this benefit.
The man, Sumit Mane, was given the Kunbi caste certificate by the Dharashiv district authorities on November 1.
Hours after accepting the certificate, he said he would give it back to the authorities, maintaining that if the government was feeding only him but keeping his brothers hungry, it was not acceptable to him.
Authorities in Dharashiv on Nov. 1 started distributing Kunbi caste certificates to the eligible Maratha community members, paving the way for their inclusion in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
Mr. Mane, who hails from Kari village in the district, was the first one to be given the certificate based on the proof.
“I was given the Kunbi caste certificate on Wednesday. At that time, I told the district collector that if these certificates are given to the entire Maratha community, I will accept it or else I will either return it to the government or burn it,” he said.
“If the government is feeding only me and keeping my brothers hungry, it will not be acceptable to me. Give it [Kunbi certificate] to everyone, then I will accept it. Therefore, I have now decided to return it to the government,” Mr. Mane added.
The Maharashtra cabinet had last month decided that Kunbi caste certificates will be issued to those Marathas hailing from Marathwada region who possess revenue or education documents from the Nizam era that recognise them as Kunbis.
On October 31, the State government published an order asking officials concerned to issue fresh Kunbi caste certificates to eligible Maratha community members, paving the way for them to avail reservation benefits under the OBC category.
The government resolution (GR) issued on October 31 asked the officials to translate old documents having references to Kunbis and written in Urdu and ‘Modi’ script (which was used to write Marathi language in earlier times).
Kunbis, a community associated with agriculture, are grouped under the OBC category in Maharashtra and enjoy reservation benefits in education and government jobs.
Legislators across party lines stage protest to support Maratha quota demand
Several legislators cutting across party lines in Maharashtra on November 2 staged an agitation outside the Mantralaya, the State Secretariat in south Mumbai, in support of the demand for reservation to the Maratha community.
The lawmakers, belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), both factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as well as the Shiv Sena, and the Congress, gathered at the gate of the secretariat in the morning and raised slogans demanding reservation to the Maratha community.
This is for the second day in a row that legislators from different political parties held a protest outside the Mantralaya in support of the quota demand.
Earlier this week, incidents of violence were witnessed in many parts of Maharashtra over the reservation issue.
State-run bus services were suspended in five Marathwada districts while curfew and Internet shut-down were imposed in parts of Beed where the houses of political leaders were targeted by protesters.
Amid a fresh wave of protests over the Maratha quota demand, the Eknath Shinde-led State Government on November 1 held an all-party meet to discuss the way out.
Leaders at the all-party meeting passed a resolution asking Mr. Jarange to call off his indefinite fast, but he refused to relent asking why the government needed more time to provide reservation to Marathas.
While CM Shinde said the government needs time for legal modalities to implement the reservation, Mr. Jarange asked why more time is needed.
