Activist Manoj Jarange, who is observing an indefinite fast for the Maratha quota demand, on Saturday said a series of hunger strikes will begin in every village in Maharashtra from October 29 if the government fails to grant the reservation immediately.
Jarange, aged around 40, has been holding the hunger protest in Jalna district's Antarwali Sarati village since August 29.
The constituency is being represented by senior BJP leader and Union minister Raosaheb Danve, who has won this seat five times on the trot.
He also sought framing of a law to identify Kunbis as Marathas, and warned of fielding candidates from all 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra in the upcoming state polls if his demands were not approved.
The government is thrusting new leaders to the fore and moving others aside to create a rift between the Maratha and OBC communities, he said, stressing that those protesting over their demand for non-dilution of the OBC quota are not at fault.
The assembly also witnessed a brief adjournment after the ruling alliance members pointed to remarks of Jarange and alleged there was a conspiracy to create unrest in the state.
The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday decided that Kunbi caste certificates will be issued to those Marathas hailing from the Marathwada region who possess revenue or education documents from the Nizam era that recognise them as Kunbis, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said.
Speaking to reporters at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, the activist said he would wait and see if the state government converts its draft notification on 'blood relatives' of Kunbi Marathas into law and then decide on the course of his agitation.
Maratha activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday suspended his indefinite fast, which he began five days ago over the quota issue, stating that his community members say they want him alive to fight for the cause.
The health condition of Maratha quota agitation spearhead Manoj Jarange, whose indefinite fast continued on the fifth day on Wednesday, deteriorated and he was given intravenous (IV) fluids when he was asleep during the protest, an activist close to him said.
Maratha quota protester Manoj Jarange, who has been on a hunger strike in Maharashtra's Jalna district, said on Thursday that their agitation will continue till the state relaxes the condition of genealogy while giving Kunbi caste certificate to the community members from the Marathwada region.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Monday announced he was withdrawing his 17-day-old fast undertaken over the Maratha quota issue, but insisted he would continue his agitation until the Maharashtra government starts issuing Kunbi caste certificates to extended family members of people already having such documents, thereby allowing them to avail of reservation benefits.
He also criticised the government over an advertisement published in some prominent newspapers listing the steps taken for the welfare of the Maratha community.
Addressing the media, Jarange, on an indefinite hunger strike since August 29 at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district in central Maharashtra demanding reservation in jobs and education for the Maratha community, asserted he would not succumb to pressure from either the government or the opposition on the quota issue.
Jarange, whose hunger strike at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district for reservation for the community in government jobs and education entered 12th day, also rejected the fresh outcome of talks held with a delegation of Maratha community leaders and the government late on Friday night in Mumbai.
The quota and other issues of the Maratha community were discussed in the state cabinet meeting after which it was decided to hold a special session, the CMO statement said.
The activist claimed that state minister Uday Samant phoned him in the morning to assure that the chief minister and the deputy CMs were committed to granting reservation.
Quota activist Manoj Jarange has announced that he will start an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan in Mumbai from January 20 to intensify his demand of reservation for the Maratha community.
Later in the afternoon, he also said that he was planning to hold a rally of the Maratha community at the protest site on October 12. "It will be attended by all the Marathas. It will show our plight and disappointment.... I will continue my protest here and will not even see the faces of my children till then," he said.
Jarange had also claimed that a poisoning attempt was made against him through saline, though he did not elaborate on it.
Fasting Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has stopped taking intravenous (IV) fluids and liquid, intensifying his agitation as he on Monday appealed to all political parties in Maharashtra to stand with the community on the reservation issue.
The decision comes a day after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said a government-appointed committee scrutinised 1.72 crore old documents (including those of Nizam-era) and among them, 11,530 records were found where Kunbi caste was mentioned.
The development comes in the wake of an indefinite hunger strike launched by activist Manoj Jarange in Jalna district on Wednesday to demand reservation for the Maratha community.
A Maratha community member from Dharashiv in Maharashtra, who was the first one to be given the Kunbi caste certificate in the district as part of the ongoing survey exercise, has decided to return the document to the authorities, saying he wants all Marathas in the state to be given this benefit.
The disclosure by Chhagan Bhujbal that he resigned as a minister last November has put a focus on the Maratha quota tightrope the Eknath Shinde-led government is walking amid restlessness in OBCs, with Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray claiming Bhujbal and the Bharatiya Janata Party are hand in glove.
A 45-year-old Maratha quota activist allegedly committed suicide in Bandra area of Mumbai in the early hours of Thursday leaving behind a note in which he urged community members to fight for the cause, a police official said.
The Maratha quota matter snowballed into a major challenge for the state government after the police earlier this month baton-charged a violent mob at Antarwali Sarati when protesters allegedly refused to let authorities shift Jarange to hospital.
'The (Maratha) community people have understood that this is the same reservation that they were given earlier also (but was later struck down)'
A group of Maratha reservation activists torched the first floor of the Majalgaon Municipal Council building and vandalised it in Maharashtra's Beed district, soon after setting on fire the residence of local NCP MLA Prakash Solanke on Monday, the police said.
The NCP leader asked how suddenly a number of records showing Marathas as belonging to the Kunbi caste were being found.
Amid a fresh wave of protests in Maharashtra over the Maratha quota demand, authorities in Dharashiv district of the state on Wednesday started distributing Kunbi caste certificates to the eligible Maratha community members, paving the way for their inclusion in the OBC category.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday reiterated that he will stop drinking water from Wednesday evening if his demand for reservation to the Maratha community is not fulfilled by the Maharashtra government.
'When the chief minister saw how Manoj Jarange Patil had successfully held the state government hostage to his whims, Eknath Shinde knew he had a very clear chance of enamouring himself to these Maratha agitators by accepting Patil's demands.'
Leaders at an all-party meeting on Maratha quota chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday passed a resolution asking activist Manoj Jarange to call off his indefinite fast.
The situation is currently under control, Beed Superintendent of Police Nandkumar Thakur told PTI.
A delegation of the Maharashtra government, comprising ministers, on Tuesday failed to convince Manoj Jarange, whose hunger strike for Maratha quota entered the 8th day, to withdraw his protest.
Referring to the demand of giving a Kunbi certificate to all 54 lakh people whose proof of being Kunabi has been found till now, Patil said that they will be given the certificates soon.
Jarange, who was earlier on a hunger strike in the village over his demand for reservation for the Maratha community under the OBC category, had ended his fast on September 14 on the 17th day after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met him and assured to fulfil his demand.
A protest for Maratha reservation in Jalna district of central Maharashtra turned violent on Friday, leading to dozens of persons including police personnel getting injured, officials said.
The Maharashtra police has so far registered 141 cases in connection with the violence during the Maratha quota agitations and arrested 168 persons, state Director General of Police Rajnish Seth said on Wednesday.
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