'Devendra Fadnavis is stating that Marathas must feel OBCs are not happy with reservations for the Marathas and therefore they are protesting.'
Are Marathas eligible for reservation?
Post September 2 it seemed like a done deal as Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil ended his fast at Azad Maidan in Mumbai after securing assurances from the Maharashtra government.
But there is a twist in the tale, with Dr Sanjay Lakhe Patil, the state coordinator of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, alleging that the Maharashtra government won't reservations to the community as promised to Jarange Patil.
"Marathas are one group. You cannot split them into sub castes. Kunbi Marathas were already covered under reservation. What was not covered was only Marathas," Dr Lakhe Patil tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.
Why do you say Maharashtra Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Manoj Jarange Patil have deceived the Maratha community over reservations?
You got to see the GR (government resolution) that they issued on September 2, 2025. There is nothing new on Maratha reservation. They have just put the Hyderabad Gazette on top.
Point number 1, 3 and 10 are the law of caste validity and verification. What the Maharashtra government has given to Marathas is a GR but not a law on reservation.
The law says when caste validation and caste verification are done, only then you will get a caste certificate for reservation. Until then it will be not done.
But Vikhe Patil stated that the Hyderabad Gazette ensures Marathas will get reservations based on their caste.
This is completely wrong on his part to say such things. Eknath Shinde when he was chief minister had appointed two committees -- the Rajagopal Devara committee and the Justice Sandeep Shinde committee. Both the committees' terms of reference had spoken about the nizam time period and Hyderabad Gazette reservation for Marathas.
This was given two years ago so what new was given by the Maharashtra government to the Marathas, to Manoj Jarange Patil? The answer is nothing.
Do you mean the government of Maharashtra gave the same reservation to Marathas which already existed?
You go back and check the Justice Sandeep Shinde committee's work. This committee scanned three crore (30 million) documentations for Hyderabad state under the nizam's rule.
After that 249,000 Marathas were identified for being eligible for reservation. And how many were given validity?
Only 8,300 Marathas were identified as Kunbis.
What about the remaining Marathas from the 249,000 who were considered as Kunbis?
The rest were given only certificates but validity was not given to them as Kunbis.
There is a caste validity form (external link) that needs to be filled and it is exclusively for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes.
So Marathas are not considered OBCs now?
There are 345 castes which are notified as OBCs (external link). On that list 83 number is the Kunbi (Maratha Kunbi) caste but not Maratha caste (as standalone).
Till day no one has declared Marathas as OBCs.
So what agreement was reached between Manoj Jarange Patil and Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil at Azad Maidan over the Maratha reservation issue?
Vikhe Patil has cheated the Maratha community in Maharashtra. He holds a Constitutional post, so I am asking for his resignation.
If not, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis must sack him or else we will agitate against Vikhe Patil at his house in Loni.
Why did Manoj Jarange Patil leave Mumbai without getting anything for the Marathas in terms of reservation?
He is in hand in glove with the Maharashtra government. Without getting anything he declares victory for the Marathas, without them knowing what they have got and what they have not.
He left Mumbai stating that out of his eight demands six were met.
The agitation was for reservation for Marathas and nothing less. We don't want reservation for Marathas in disguise as that for Kunbis. That is happening for years now.
What I understand is that there are three gazettes -- Hyderabad, Satara and Aundh. Hyderabad was already done where Marathas were getting reservations as Kunbis. And in two months time, in the Satara and Aundh gazettes too, Marathas will be declared as Kunbis and automatically get the benefit of reservation.
You are wrong, they have not yet done this even for the Hyderabad gazette for Marathas.
In the Hyderabad gazette points 1, 3, 10 are the most important in caste validation verification. Without which nothing matters because this is the law set by Parliament with the Supreme Court's assent. Nothing is more important than this.
Now, when I as a Kunbi file my application for caste verification, my number is 83. And if I write Maratha as my caste, my form will not proceed because the Maratha community is not mentioned in that reservation list of caste verification.
My validity as a Maratha and OBC will not fulfill the criteria because legally I am not an OBC yet.
Like me being Lakhe Patil, a Maratha, will not be entered first in that list. It is my caste Maratha that has to be entered in the list first and only then me as Lakhe Patil will enter that list to get reservation.
It is not the other way that Lakhe Patil will enter first in the reservation category and later his caste Maratha will enter.
Chief Minister Fadnavis is misleading the state (on Maratha reservation). Our demand is that the Maratha caste needs to be included.
But then there are sub-castes in Marathas like Kunbi Maratha and then you have 96 kulli, therefore reservation is given to Maratha Kunbis and not other sub-castes.
Marathas are one group. You cannot split them into sub castes. Kunbi Marathas were already covered under reservation. What was not covered was only Marathas.
Kunbi translates as peasants in English. So the Marathas who are peasants or Kunbi Marathas are eligible for reservation.
This is a historical perspective you are talking about. Take any backward class commission right from the days of Kakasaheb Kalelkar (1955) and Justice Gaikwad committee (2018), nobody has put Marathas as a backward caste.
And if you go to the Kakasaheb Kalelkar list you will find out Kunbis are in the OBC list. And if you go to parts of Maharashtra you will find Marathas are Kunbis too.
That is what I am saying, if Marathas prove themselves as Kunbis or in other words farmers, they will be eligible for reservation.
It doesn't work that way. It is identified legally and constitutionally as per the Supreme Court 7 judge bench order in the Indra Sawhney reservation case where it is clearly mentioned Marathas and Kunbis are different castes.
Now to prove that Marathas and Kunbis are one caste you will have to go to a 9 judge bench.
Even if Parliament gives okay to Maratha reservation you've got to go to a 9 judge bench according to the Kesavananda Bharati case.
The Supreme Court will scrutinise this legally. And unless the 9 judge bench of the Supreme Court agrees to state that Marathas and Kunbis are one, no one in this country has the authority to put them in one caste category.
What about Manoj Jarange Patil? Does he not know these things?
Manoj Jarange Patil is a part and parcel of this game.
Why then are OBC leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal protesting against Maratha reservation?
It is a plan of Devendra Fadnavis who is stating that Marathas must feel that OBCs are not happy with reservations for the Marathas and therefore they are protesting.
When Bhujbal says OBCs are being cheated, the Maratha leaders whose name you just took tell the Marathas that since Bhujbal is protesting Marathas have won the battle of reservation.
The government is making Bhujbal speak against Maratha reservation, but the mastermind of all this game is Fadnavis.
Now, if there is a young Maratha boy who is a Kunbi and needs reservation for education, will he get it?
He has to be a Maratha and Kunbi in the first place.
Secondly, if he is a Kunbi he needs to prove his parental side has been Kunbi before 1967, only then he will get it.
The late agriculture minister, Dr Punjabrao Deshmukh, was the first to get a Kunbi (Maratha) certificate.
Who are not getting certificates then?
Those on whose tehsil documentation is written Hindu-Maratha are not getting reservation. This fight for reservation is for them and not for Kunbis.
How come no one knows about the twist that is going on?
I am saying it openly now so people are understanding the real issue.
Kunbis are different from Marathas. Till the time people do not understand the difference...