 "Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange")
Activist Manoj Jarange, whose indefinite fast over the Maratha quota issue entered the third day on Friday, said the Maharashtra government can convene a special one-day session of the state legislature to grant reservation to the community.
He also said that if extension has been given to the committee appointed to devise ways to provide reservation to Marathas, then the Maharashtra government is conspiring not to grant quota to the community.
Jarange was addressing a press conference at his native Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, where he is observing his hunger strike. "We had given the government 40 days and presented necessary evidence to prove our stand on the Maratha quota. If they have given an extension to the committee working on this issue, it is a conspiracy for not giving reservation to Marathas," he said.
The 40-year-old activist appealed to leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to stay in their homes and not to enter villages. "If the leaders are not giving us reservation and entering our villages, they are coming there to disturb the law and order situation. They should instead go to the legislative assembly and raise their voice for the Maratha reservation. The government can call a one-day assembly session and grant reservation," Jarange said. People in villages should peacefully stop leaders from visiting, he said, urging people not to commit suicide and keep fighting till reservation is granted. Taking a dig at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the deputy chief ministers on their visit to Delhi, the activist questioned why the heads of the state had not apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the quota agitation in Maharashtra. Jarange had observed a hunger strike in the same village in September demanding that the Maratha community be granted reservation in government jobs and education under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. The protest, which began on August 29, was called off on September 14 after CM Shinde held talks with him. At that time, the activist had set a 40-day deadline (October 24) before the government for the grant of quota. "Another two to three phases of our agitation are remaining. We will wait for the next two days and decide the further course of action on October 29," the activist said. The state government has formed a five-member panel headed by judge Sandeep Shinde (retired) to determine the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), including legal and administrative framework, for giving caste certificates to members of the Maratha community referred to as Kunbis in the Nizam-era documents. Kunbis (the community associated with agriculture) are grouped under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in Maharashtra. The Maratha community, led by Jarange, has been demanding the issuance of Kunbi certificates to Marathas, enabling them to get inclusion in the OBC category for reservation.
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