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.
As violence broke out, police baton-charged the protesters and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse them. Several persons, including 40 police personnel, were injured and more than 15 state transport buses were set ablaze. More than 360 persons were booked in connection with the violence, police said.
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.
Quota activist Manoj Jarange demands the Maharashtra government implement a GR for issuing Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas before September 17, threatening further action if the deadline is missed.
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.
If Marathas get blanket Kunbi OBC certificates, there will be no separate identity of the Maratha community in Maharashtra, state minister and senior OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal said on Wednesday amid the quota row.
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.
Raut was referring to the recent war of words between state ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Shambhuraj Desai.
Thousands of Maratha community members have turned the area surrounding Azad Maidan in Mumbai into a camp during their agitation for quota, disrupting traffic and daily life.
Activist Manoj Jarange announced victory after the Maharashtra government's cabinet sub-committee on Maratha quota accepted most of his demands, including giving Kunbi caste certificates to eligible Marathas, on the fifth day of his indefinite fast.
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.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday announced the withdrawal of police cases filed against pro-Maratha reservation protesters in Jalna district, the epicentre of the latest round of stir on the issue, and urged quota activist Manoj Jarange to end his indefinite fast.
Instead of agitating, be ready for celebration, Maha CM Devendra Fadnavis 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.
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 appealed to the protesters to park their vehicles only in the designated parking areas, hours after the high court frowned on the conduct of protesters.
Dharashiv, earlier Osmanabad, is among the eight districts that comprise the state's Marathwada region, where activist Manoj Jarange has led an agitation demanding reservation for Marathas in education and government jobs.
'After Manoj Jarange Patil began his long march towards Mumbai on January 20, he kept increasing his demands and the government meekly surrendered to him.'
Protesters were seen thronging the main junctions in south Mumbai, causing traffic snarls during the morning peak hours.
'The (Maratha) community people have understood that this is the same reservation that they were given earlier also (but was later struck down)'
Activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday claimed that Maratha leaders earlier did not support quota for the community and there was also pressure from OBC leaders on the government for 30-40 years to not give reservation to Marathas.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
The BJP cannot afford to alienate the OBCs, who have explicitly voiced their opposition to the Maratha quota.
Activist Manoj Jarange, whose indefinite fast over Maratha reservation entered the fifth day on Wednesday, started taking intravenous fluids after a Maharashtra minister assured to resolve the issue.
Jarange's hunger strike at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai over the demand for Maratha quota entered the fifth day on Tuesday.
'It is now the government's duty to find a way out of this impasse without hurting interests of any sections of Maharashtrian people.'
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.
Jarange said he had decided to call off the fast keeping in mind the sentiments of the Maratha community.
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.
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.
He also criticised the government over an advertisement published in some prominent newspapers listing the steps taken for the welfare of the Maratha community.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday underlined the necessity of any reservation standing legal scrutiny as he listed key measures undertaken by the state government for the Maratha community.
Shinde also said directives will be issued to give the Kunbi caste certificates to blood relatives of a person who already possesses similar documents.
The previous Congress-NCP government had issued an ordinance to grant a 16 per cent quota to Marathas and five per cent to Muslims.
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.
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.
