Maharashtra govt partially accepts Maratha quota demands

The state cabinet on Wednesday came out with a solution to end the Maratha leader Manoj Jarange's nine-day fast for the quota. One of the decisions is to give Marathas, who were notified as Kunbis in the erstwhile Nizam state, the Other Backward Class (OBC) concessions. The second was to form a panel headed by a retired high court judge to decide the process of certification of Marathas in Marathwada as Kunbis, based on the generational documentary evidence.

Jarange had promised government representatives to declare his decision to end or continue the fast on Thursday morning. But a couple of hours before Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced the decisions, Jarange had given the government an ultimatum that the certification GR (government resolution) could be issued in a day.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Wednesday was the tenth day of Manoj Jarange's fast. Pic/Twitter

Shinde said the GRs for both solutions would be issued on Wednesday night and the committee would submit its report, including standard operating procedures for certification, within a month. Justice (retd) Sandeep Shinde will head the five-member committee. The existing panel of the additional chief secretary would assist the main panel. However, Jarange's demand to restore the quota in education and jobs for all Marathas would have to wait, though he demanded that an ordinance be issued immediately. He demanded to withdraw police cases against the protesters or else take the community's complaint against the police.

Wednesday was the tenth day of Jarange's fast. Last weekend, the police had lathi charged the protesters, giving the stir a dramatic turn. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had apologised on behalf of the government for the lathi charge.

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The protest, now spread across the state, has thrown the government a challenge because including the protesters in the OBC quota would mean inviting the wrath of other communities within the category. The other option explored - giving a separate quota to Marathas - was scrapped by the Supreme Court as it breached the cap of 50 per cent social reservations.

‘Will give data'

"The government should not ask for four days or a month to give Marathas a certification of Kunbi. We will give the government all the data. The government should come here and collect it," Jarange said during a media conference in Antarwali Sarati in Jalna district on Wednesday. Shinde said the government would procure data provided by the community. Shinde's representatives, Arjun Khotkar and Rajesh Tope, local MLAs of NCP, met Jarange to convey the CM's message. The CM said that the record of revenue and educational documents would be verified for giving Marathas a certificate of Kunbis.

"The government can seek the Governor's permission to promulgate an ordinance in just one day. The data we will be giving will suffice to make it stand the legal scrutiny. Actually, we want to save the time of a government committee that has done nothing in the last three months," said Jarange earlier in the day, while issuing a veiled warning to the government that the protest could not be held responsible if it continued in case of the government's failure.

Kunbis, OBCs upset

The state cabinet's decision to certify a section of Marathas from Marathwada as Kunbis as they were in the erstwhile Nizam state has led to resentment among the OBCs, especially the existing Kunbis because they fear the new entrants will share their 27 per cent quota.

OBC organisations cried foul over the decisions. They threatened a massive counter-protest saying that individuals could be certified as Kunbis but not all could be given that facility in one stroke through Wednesday's decision.

President of the National OBC Mahasangh Babanrao Taywade questioned the mass certification. "The (existing) Kunbis will not tolerate this. The other OBC castes too are worried. We will stage an agitation bigger than this (Maratha protest)," he said from Nagpur. The office-bearers of the Kunbi Sena too were agitated. Its founder V Patil decried the move, threatening a protest.

Asked about it, Manoj Jarange appealed to the Kunbis that they were brothers to Marathas. "We are one. Please don't fall prey to what people have been saying. We together can go ahead hand in hand," Jarange said.

In the 58 long marches, the Kunbis (who are certified as either Maratha-Kunbis or Kunbi-Maratha and get the OBC concession) too, had participated in solidarity with the Marathas, with whom they share relations, ethos and pathos.