Even as Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil continued to insist that reservations for the Maratha community must be given from the other backward class (OBC) pie, differences arose among members within the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission over the quota stir, prompting resignations of some OBC members in the Commission.
On Wednesday, a delegation of OBC and Dhangar members led by former Member of Parliament Haribhau Rathod – one of the few OBC leaders to support Mr. Jarange Patil - met with the Maratha quota activist in Yavatmal district in Vidarbha.
Thanking the delegation for backing the fight for Maratha reservation, Mr. Jarange Patil said the only way to ensure foolproof reservation for the Marathas was to include them in the Kunbi OBC category.
“I thank the OBC and the Dhangars [of Mr. Rathod’s delegation] for their support. However, I remain firm on my demand that the Marathas must be included in the OBC Kunbi category in order for the quota to withstand scrutiny by the courts,” Mr. Jarange Patil said.
Training his guns on his bête noire, OBC leader and cabinet Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Mr. Jarange Patil said, “The man sitting in Yeola [Mr. Bhujbal’s constituency] wants to eat all the reservation benefits. He has no need to fight the Marathas. Why doesn’t he ever bat for the poor Marathas? It is only a few leaders like him who are trying to engineer schisms between Marathas and OBCs when there is perfect harmony between them at the ground level.”
Meanwhile, notwithstanding Mr. Jarange Patil’s claims of Marathas-OBC harmony, the ten-member State Backward Class Commission has witnessed a spate of resignations in the past month, with four of its OBC members quitting on grounds that the Commission was under ‘pressure’ from other members and some Ministers in the State government.
There is intense speculation that Justice (retired) Anand Nirgude, chairperson of the Commission, was likely to tender his resignation soon.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Laxman Hake, a member of the Commission who resigned earlier this week, said, “The Supreme Court had raised pertinent questions about the Maratha quota law regarding the socio-economic backwardness of the community while scrapping the law in May 2021. Unfortunately, some members of the State Backward Class Commission only want to study the socio-economic backwardness of the Maratha community instead of all communities. We presume this is being done with a political agenda in order to expedite the Maratha reservation process at any cost.”
Yet another member, Balaji Sagar Killarikar, who resigned earlier this month, said that pressure on the State Backward Class Commission had increased ever since the Eknath Shinde-led government decided to expedite the process of granting a quota for the Marathas in the backdrop of Jarange Patil’s agitation.
Sources said that if the Justice (retired) Nirgude, the chairperson of the Commission, did indeed resign, then a fresh one would be appointed in place of the old one which was likely to consist of more members from the Maratha community.
