Even as pro-Maratha quota groups staged demonstrations across Maharashtra, a parallel protest by the Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh, representing the interest of the other backward classes, continued in Nagpur on Wednesday, with OBC community leaders remaining firm on their objection to granting OBC Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former MLA Ashish Deshmukh, in a bid to defuse the situation, met the OBC protestors on Wednesday, and invited them to hold talks with the government.
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The Mahasangh leaders have made it clear that they will not cease their protest until the State Government initiates a dialogue and offers a written commitment to their demands.
Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe, too, joined the OBC protestors who have been insisting that their benefits should not be sacrificed by the government for the sake of giving the Marathas a quota.
“This protest [Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh] has been going on for 11 days now. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, too, had called on the agitators and assured that the OBC quota would remain intact. It is my request to the protestors that as CM Eknath Shinde and both Deputy CMs are willing to discuss the matter, they ought to accept the government’s invite and participate in the talks,” Mr. Deshmukh said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Londhe, who shared the dais with Mr. Deshmukh despite being from opposing parties, said the Maratha quota agitation protests and the counter-protests by the OBCs that have erupted, were “not a matter of politics”.
Stating that the BJP had governments at both the Centre and the State, Mr. Londhe said that if both governments were sincere about granting a quota to the Marathas without it infringing on the OBC benefits, then the Opposition would fully back the government.
“If it is really sincere, then the Centre ought to remove the 50% cap on reservation in the country and raise it to accommodate more communities. That way, the benefits of the OBC community would remain intact. If it does this, then the Opposition would fully side by you,” said the Congress leader.
The Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh has been engaged in protests since September 10. Mr. Fadnavis, who met the protestors last week, urged them to reconsider their stance while stressing that the Maharashtra Government would not touch the OBC quota in order to give reservation to the Maratha community.
Meanwhile, the renewed Maratha quota agitation has also spurred the Dhangar community into action.
The community, which has been seeking fulfilment of their long-pending demand to be included in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category, staged a rasta roko (roadblock) under the led by the Sakal Dhangar Samaj in Satara district.
The community, currently included in the Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribes (VJNT) category, has been agitating for a higher quota inclusion in the ST list for some years now. demanding to be included in the ST category
The roadblock afflicted traffic along the Pune-Bengaluru highway for a while.
