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.”
The public of Maharashtra are now inferring that the PM, along with the Maharashtra government, has no need for poor Marathas, the activist said.
On Thursday, PM Modi had inaugurated a raft of development projects in Ahmednagar district while addressing a farmers’ rally in Shirdi. While the PM took potshots at NCP chief Sharad Pawar and touched upon several issues, he did not mention the Maratha quota matter at all.
Mr. Jarange Patil further said that his community had great expectations from the PM as well as CM Shinde and Mr. Fadnavis.
“We eagerly hoped the PM would straighten out obstacles to Maratha reservation. However, this has not been the case. We bear no ill-will towards him. Had the Maratha community borne any ill-will, they would not have permitted the PM’s plane to land in Shirdi,” said the activist.
Hitting out at Mr. Shinde and the Deputy CMs – Mr. Ajit Pawar and Mr. Fadnavis, Mr. Jarange Patil said: “The government had sought time from us [a period of 30 days] and have not given us reservation even after we granted it 40 days. It means that the government including the CM and the Deputy CMs have conspired to ensure that the children of the Marathas should not be economically strong.”
The activist demanded that the State government immediately call a special session of the Legislature and grant reservation to the Marathas within the next few days, while vowing to intensify the agitation after October 29.
“If nothing is granted us till October 29, then we will call a meeting and decide on the second phase of our agitation. We will not let this government sleep,” warned Mr. Jarange Patil.
A government medical team, which had descended on Antarwali Sarati to treat the activist, was sent back empty-handed as Mr. Jarange Patil categorically declined any treatment.
Meanwhile, the agitation gathered momentum across the State, with several villages in districts in Marathwada displaying banners strictly prohibiting the entry of politicos in their domain.
More than 200 villages in Nanded resorted to ‘chain fasting’ in a bid to show solidarity with Mr. Jarange Patil.
In Dharashiv (formerly Osmanabad), Maratha quota activist burnt effigies of politicians who had opposed reservation for the community.
Irate activists stoned the convoy of Prataprao Chikhlikar, the Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Nanded, and damaged two vehicles by smashing their glasses.
The intensity of the protests were felt in western Maharashtra as well, as Minister and rebel NCP leader Hasan Mushrif’s car was accosted by angry Maratha youths demanding his resignation.
Remarking that banning politicians from entering villages was “improper”, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that every party, be it the ruling or the opposition, had, in one voice, had said that the Marathas ought to be given reservation.
“When our government is trying its level best and when all parties have agreed on the issue, then what is the point of such a move [banning politicians from entering villages]. Has the Congress, the NCP, the BJP, or Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi or Ramdas Athawale’s Republican Party of India (Athawale) opposed reservation? No. Every leader and party has supported a quota for Marathas,” Mr. Bawankule said.
