Maharashtra CM Shinde to meet Maratha quota activist Jarange today

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will meet Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Saturday at Vashi in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, where the latter has been camping with thousands of protesters over the demand for reservation to his community, officials said.

CM Shinde's meeting with Jarange assumes significance after the state government on Friday night came out with a draft ordinance regarding the reservation demands of Marathas.

The government came out with the ordinance as per Jarange's demand, and a team of government officials visited him last night at the camp site. During his speech on Friday, Jarange had warned that he and his supporters would enter Mumbai on Saturday for their planned protest at Azad Maidan ground if their demands were not met by Friday night.

He also made a fresh demand that the government amend its free education policy to include all Marathas until the benefit of reservation becomes available for the entire community. He has sought data of the 37 lakh Kunbi certificates issued by the state government. Kunbi, an agrarian community, falls in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, and Jarange has been demanding Kunbi certificates for all Marathas. The activist suddenly emerged into limelight in September 2023 when police used force to break up the gathering at his indefinite fast at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district. He launched another round of fast later, forcing the government to initiate talks with him.

The Maharashtra government had earlier enacted a law to provide reservation in government jobs and admissions to educational institutes to the politically as well as numerically dominant Maratha community, but it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2021.