Maratha quota movement leader Manoj Jarange is heading to Mumbai to launch a fresh hunger strike, demanding reservation for the Maratha community under the OBC category. He has agreed to meet a government delegation near Pune en route.
Activist Manoj Jarange vows to intensify his hunger strike for Maratha reservation under OBC, while the Maharashtra government seeks legal opinion on the issue.
Activist Manoj Jarange, on a hunger strike for Maratha quota, is open to talks with the government but refuses to leave Mumbai until demands are met. He urges protesters to maintain peace and claims they haven't violated any laws.
In the last five days, there were instances in which various groups of protesters agitated in front of the Mantralaya (secretariat), Bombay Stock Exchange, were seen roaming along the Marine Drive, Jehangir Art Gallery, Giragon Chowpatty and Gateway of India, but police controlled the crowd and were seen requesting them to take precautions.
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.
Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the ongoing hunger strike by activist Manoj Jarange, who is demanding a 10 per cent quota for Marathas under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category.
Activist Manoj Jarange, advocating for Maratha reservation, reached Shivneri Fort with supporters en route to Mumbai for a fresh agitation. He demands a 10% quota for Marathas under the OBC category and has been granted permission to protest peacefully in Mumbai.
The Bombay High Court ruled that Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange must obtain prior permission from authorities to hold a protest, citing concerns about law and order, especially during the Ganesh festival.
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.
The activist urged his supporters not to block Mumbai's roads. "Clear the streets in two hours and ensure Mumbaikars are not troubled. Those who want to leave the city today can do so," he said.
The video, shot before the commencement of a press conference after an all-party meeting on Monday on the demand for reservation to Maratha community, shows Shinde asking the other two leaders, "We just need to speak and leave, right?" While Ajit Pawar promptly replies, "Yes, right," Fadnavis is seen whispering in Shinde's ear and pointing out that the microphone is on. Pawar is also seen indicating the same.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assures implementation of Bombay High Court directives regarding the Maratha quota protest led by Manoj Jarange, while also exploring legal options to resolve the issue. He condemned harassment of journalists and appealed to avoid politicizing the matter.
'When maximum voter participation occurs, they do not vote to re-elect the incumbent government. They vote to change it.' 'How can anyone credibly suggest that crores of young voters -- particularly the unemployed youth -- would vote to re-elect an existing government that has demonstrably failed them?'
The Bombay High Court has directed activist Manoj Jarange and his supporters, who are staging an agitation demanding reservation for the Maratha community, to vacate Azad Maidan in Mumbai by 3 pm or face action.
Activists Laxman Hake and Navnath Waghmare, who have been sitting on a hunger strike at Wadigodri village in Jalna district since June 13, did not allow doctors to check their health or administer intravenous fluids.
The NCP leader asked how suddenly a number of records showing Marathas as belonging to the Kunbi caste were being found.
OBC activist Laxman Hake was allegedly manhandled and verbally abused by members of the Maratha community in Pune, and a video of the incident surfaced on social media, the police said on Tuesday.
Maratha activist Manoj Jarange ended his five-day indefinite fast after government representatives assured him that several of his demands, including the reactivation of the Shinde Committee, would be fulfilled. Jarange, who has been demanding reservation for the Maratha community in government jobs and education, warned that members of the community would march to Mumbai if the demands were not met. The government has assured that all cases against Maratha protesters would be withdrawn, while separate sections would be set up for issuing "Kunbi " certificates for the community members. The Economically Backward Section provisions for Marathas would also be implemented, while compensation would be released for those community members who lost their lives during the quota agitation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'This escalation was definitely not part of Gen Z's plan. It seems now that these external forces were keenly observing the initial developments from the sidelines and jumped into the fray, taking advantage of the situation, finding that the time was suitable for such acts'
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Saturday launched a fresh indefinite hunger strike in Maharashtra's Jalna district, demanding implementation of the draft notification that recognises Kunbis as blood relatives of the Maratha community members.
'It is now the government's duty to find a way out of this impasse without hurting interests of any sections of Maharashtrian people.'
Jarange appealed to Shinde and his deputies to come together and resolve the issue of Maratha quota, an emotive issue which has been dominating the state's political discourse for the last few months.
Chavan said the Mahayuti and BJP's policy was Viksit Bharat and Viksit Maharashtra, as spelt out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile, the indefinite hunger strike by around 150 students of five premier medical colleges of the capital at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences entered the fourth day.
The BJP has done extremely well in the Patidar-dominated constituencies of the state, winning almost every seat that has significant Patel population.
Maratha outfits have announced that a mega rally will be held in Mumbai on August 9 in support of their quota demand.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat has demanded that the party be given the crucial home department in the new Maharashtra government, indicating fissures among the Mahayuti allies. He also alleged attempts to sideline caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is reportedly upset with the BJP's decision to claim the chief minister's post.
The Maratha community is not backward and hence it does not require reservation in government jobs and education, a petitioner argued before the Bombay high court on Wednesday.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Monday said he will set out on a tour of Maharashtra after the Diwali festival to meet Marathas and make them aware about the issue of reservation for the community.
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.
'The bad dream can turn into a ghoulish nightmare for the BJP if the Gujjars in Rajasthan and the Patels in Gujarat, both BJP-ruled states, were to fish in troubled waters and relaunch their respective agitations for quotas in government jobs,' warns Rajeev Sharma.
'The (Maratha) community people have understood that this is the same reservation that they were given earlier also (but was later struck down)'
The move comes a day a day after Patel community members living in the US announced a "boycott" of Modi's upcoming visit there.
CBI spokesperson said the agency took over investigation in these cases on the request of Haryana government and further orders from Department of Personnel and Training.
More than 150 shotgun shooters are sweating over their participation in crucial national Olympic trials later this month in Patiala in the wake of the farmers' 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.
