Mumbai police detain five supporters of Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange

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Mumbai Police has registered an FIR against five supporters of Manoj Jarange for allegedly creating a ruckus outside a hotel in Mumbai where a person who had criticised the Maratha quota activist was staying, an official said on Saturday.

Five persons were detained and a case was registered against them on charges of rioting and criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code and the Bombay Police Act, the official said according to newswire PTI.

They wanted to seek clarification from activist Ajay Maharaj Baraskar about his comments against Jarange in the context of the Maratha quota agitation, the official said.

"A group of Maratha quota supporters gathered outside a hotel in the Churchgate area where Baraskar was present at 6:45 pm on Friday. Police deployed outside the hotel detained five of them," he said.

The official confirmed that the detained persons are supporters of Jarange. "We are questioning them," he added.

Meanwhile, Jarange on Saturday accused the Maharashtra government of using "tricks and conspiracies" to undermine their ongoing Maratha agitation for reservation for the community in government jobs and education, newswire PTI reported.

Addressing the media at his Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district amid Maratha agitation, Jarange said he would disclose his next course of action on Sunday and asked people from the community to gather there.

He alleged that the government was deploying "tricks and conspiracies" the scuttle their efforts for quota and questioned the delay in converting the notification on 'blood relatives' of Kunbi Marathas into a law.

Jaranage also accused the police of registering cases against Maratha protesters at the behest of the state home minister (Devendra Fadnavis).

The activist urged Maratha community members to hold "rasta roko" (road blockade) from 11 am to 1 pm at their respective places on Saturday, revising his earlier call to hold such demonstrations in morning or evening hours.

The Maharashtra legislature during a one-day special session on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill providing 10 per cent reservation for the Marathas in education and government jobs under a separate category, but Jarange has been firm on his demand for quota for the community under the OBC head.

A substantial number of castes and groups are already placed in the reserved category, getting about 52 per cent of reservations altogether. It would be completely inequitable to place the Maratha community in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, the bill said.

As per the draft notification issued by the state government last month, if a Maratha person has proof to show that he or she belongs to Kunbi caste, the person's blood relatives too would be recognised as Kunbi.

The scrutiny of the draft notification issued last month for granting certificates to "extended blood relatives" of Kunbi Marathas is currently underway as 6 lakh objections have been received, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told the legislative assembly. (With inputs from PTI)