Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Friday took aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the State government over the reservation issue, remarking that the PM’s silence over the quota matter indicated he no longer had any need for the poorer sections of the Maratha community.
Mr. Jarange Patil, whose indefinite hunger strike in Jalna’s Antarwali Sarati village entered its third day, further accused the CM and his Deputies (Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar) of “conspiring” to ensure that the Maratha community youth were deliberately kept economically backward.
Alluding to the PM’s omission to mention the Maratha quota issue during his speech in Shirdi on Thursday, Mr. Jarange Patil said, “There is strong suspicion whether the CM and the Deputy CM told the PM about the Maratha reservation matter during their visit to Delhi [Mr. Fadnavis and Mr. Shinde had gone to the capital this week]. Either they did not brief the PM, or if they did so, then Mr. Modi deliberately avoided mentioning the issue when he visited Shirdi yesterday. This is the message that has gone out to the Maratha community.”
