If quotas are denied, Maharashtra reservation body warns of a situation similar to Manipur

Maratha activists started a protest demanding reservation. “If it does not want to turn Maharashtra into a Manipur, then it should immediately resolve the perennial Maratha reservation issue as soon as possible,” the umbrella group for the Maratha community warned the BJP-led Maharashtra government on Monday. The All-Indian Maratha Mahasangh arranged a meeting in Nagpur where it was decided to campaign for the Maratha reservation.

Maratha leader believes BJP will make reservations easy

Dilip Jagtap, a leader of the Maratha Mahasangh, claimed that because the BJP controls both the state and federal governments, announcing reservations for the Marathas should be easy.

According to a report, Jagtap quoted, “ If they want to lift the 50 per cent cap on the reservation, they can do it but reservation to the Maratha community should be given.

Warning the state government Jagtap stated, “The Maratha community is in a majority in many parts of the state. Yet it is socially and economically backward. Our leader Manoj Garange Patil has been on hunger strike for 12 days, but no concrete solution has come out yet. His health is deteriorating. If something happens to his life, then the state government will be responsible.”

Manoj Jarange, activist of the Maratha quota, has embarked on a 13-day hunger strike to get all Marathas the Kunbi status, which is practically the OBC quota.

Kunbi is a major agrarian caste in Vidarbha and North Maharashtra

On the other side, the OBC group became increasingly uneasy when Marathas were mentioned as belonging to the OBC category. Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister, made it clear on Monday that the government would not treat the OBC communities unfairly. The Maratha group, which has already been designated as an OBC, is asking for the issuance of a Kunbi caste certificate to qualify for inclusion in the OBC category. The Maharashtra government had previously granted the Marathas a 16% reservation, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision citing flawed empirical data and a maximum of 50% reserve. The Kunbi is a major agrarian caste in Vidarbha and North Maharashtra

Over the ongoing situation Nana Patole, the president of the Maharashtra Congress, stated on Thursday that if his party wins the next elections for both the state and the federal government, it will grant the Maratha community reservation by raising the quota’s 50% maximum.

Please, also have a look into : India strongly rejects comments made by UN committee on Manipur