Progress in Maharashtra was possible only if quotas for other backward classes (OBCs) and Marathas were kept separate, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar said on Sunday. The Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil must be told that Marathas could not eat from the OBC reservation pie, he reiterated.
Mr. Ambedkar, grandson of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, said the State government had no authority to “create a new caste” but merely to decide whether an existing caste was socio-economically backward or not.
He was taking part in an OBC rally in Nanded district organised by OBC outfits to counter Mr. Jarange Patil’s demands for a Maratha quota via grant of OBC certificates.
“I explained to Jarange-Patil that if you are doing this [Maratha agitation] to shake-up the current ruling class, that is good. This rotten leadership has no interest in seeing that justice is done to Dalits, OBCs or poorer sections of the Maratha community. While I welcome the new [Maratha community] leadership under Jarange-Patil, he must know that he should not come near the OBC reservation plate,” said Mr. Ambedkar.
If Mr. Jarange-Patil and the Marathas wanted “a different plate” for reservation, then the OBCs would certainly help the community.
Quotas are separate
“But do not eat from our [OBC] plate. Both Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have reservation, but they are separate quotas. There can be a change in Maharashtra only if the Maratha and OBC quotas remain separate,” he said.
Taking aim at the ruling BJP, he accused the saffron party of plotting to change the country’s Constitution.
“Only if this Constitution is saved, will our reservation be saved,” Mr. Ambedkar said.
He said that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat would never come forward for an open discussion on the Constitution.
“Tell me what is bad about our Constitution? I was going to ask him [Mr. Bhagwat] that. But he will never come face to face for a discussion,” alleged Mr. Ambedkar.
