He also termed the draft notification issued by the state government providing Kunbi certificates to all Marathas as a mere 'eyewash', and said caste is determined by birth and not affidavits.
The Bombay high court on Thursday said it was not inclined to hear PILs against the Maharashtra government's decision to issue Kunbi caste certificates to Maratha community members for reservation, noting the petitioners were not aggrieved persons.
Amruta Fadnavis, wife of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has stated that festivals like Navratri are inclusive and there is nothing wrong with Muslim individuals attending the celebrations, despite the Vishva Hindu Parishad's call to bar Muslims from such events and BJP leader Nitesh Rane's support for the ban.
Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal has convened a meeting of OBC leaders to discuss Manoj Jarange's demand for Maratha reservations under the OBC category.
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.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has accused the Maharashtra government of conspiring to kill him and suppress his agitation, following Mumbai police's denial of permission for his indefinite hunger strike from September 19. Jarange stated he would proceed with the march to Mumbai despite the ban.
The BJP cannot afford to alienate the OBCs, who have explicitly voiced their opposition to the Maratha quota.
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.
Fasting quota activist Manoj Jarange on Monday sought reservation for the Maratha community in entire Maharashtra and not in specific regions and warned the ongoing agitation will be ratcheted up if the demand was not fulfilled by the state government.
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.
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.
Several legislators cutting across party lines in Maharashtra on Thursday staged an agitation outside the Mantralaya, the state secretariat in south Mumbai, in support of the demand for reservation to the Maratha community.
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.
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 judgment came on a batch of pleas challenging the Bombay high court verdict which had upheld the grant of reservation to Marathas in admissions and government jobs in the state.
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.
Denied permission for his hunger strike in Mumbai, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Monday announced he would head to the Maharashtra capital alone on September 15 to stage a protest at Azad Maidan.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday announced that Jalna district superintendent of police, Tushar Doshi, is sent on compulsory leave, two days after protesters demanding Maratha quota were baton-charged, triggering violence.
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.
State-run bus services have been completely suspended in five Marathwada districts while curfew and Internet shut-down have been imposed in parts of Beed where the houses of political leaders were targeted by protesters.
Shinde also said directives will be issued to give the Kunbi caste certificates to blood relatives of a person who already possesses similar documents.
Maratha outfits have announced that a mega rally will be held in Mumbai on August 9 in support of their quota demand.
When he started his indefinite hunger strike in support of Maratha quota in a village in adjoining Jalna district on August 29, it largely went unnoticed, but everything changed on September 1 when violence broke out when local authorities tried to move him to hospital.
"Out of 100, I will give minus zero marks to this GR," said activist Vinod Patil.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Thursday ended his nine-day-old indefinite fast, but warned of a bigger agitation if no action was taken in two months on giving reservation benefits to the community.
The Bombay high court on Friday constituted a three-judge special bench to hear the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the law providing Maratha reservation following a Supreme Court directive.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has ended his indefinite fast after talks with Maharashtra government representatives, who submitted a 12-point proposal to him.
Earlier attempts by the state governments to introduce the reservation for Marathas have been struck down by courts.
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.
PWD Minister Ashok Chavan later told reporters that the application was filed on Monday morning and added the counsels representing the government will try to see that the hearing on the application takes place soon.
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.
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.
In a statement after the apex court verdict, Thackeray said, "With folded hands, we request the prime minister and the president to take an immediate decision on Maratha quota."
The BJP-led government's decision to grant Kunbi status to individuals from the Maratha community has opened a Pandora's box.
Maharashtra cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal has demanded a stay on the Kunbi caste certificates issued to Marathas following their latest agitation for reservation and scrapping of the Justice (retired) Sandeep Shinde committee formed over the quota issue.
As the 40-day deadline he set before the Maharashtra government to implement Maratha reservation came to an end, activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday launched his indefinite fast to press for the demand for quota to the community.
Around 20 policemen, including eight officers, were injured in stone-pelting by protesters at Kopar Khairane and Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai.
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.
Raut was referring to the recent war of words between state ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Shambhuraj Desai.
A decision on supporting candidates for the November 20 state polls will be taken in due course, he told a Marathi news channel in Jalna district.
