14 May,2024 05:29 PM IST | Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar | mid-day online correspondent
Manoj Jarange. File Pic
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Tuesday warned that the agitation will restart from June 4, the day the results of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024 will be out, reported the PTI.
A rally will be organised on June 8 to press the Maratha community's demand for reservations in government jobs and admissions to educational institutes, he said.
Manoj Jarange has been heading the Maratha quota agitation since last year, garlanded a statue of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj to mark the 17th century ruler's birth anniversary.
"We want reservation for our kids.....We have been given ten percent reservation (under the economically backward category) which is of no use. This has been proved in the (ongoing) police recruitment," he told reporters afterwards, as per the PTI.
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"We will restart the agitation at 9 am on June 4 by holding an indefinite hunger strike. The agitation will take place peacefully," the activist said, adding that he hoped the government will deal with his demands before that, according to the PTI.
Preparations were in full swing for the rally at Narayangad in Beed district of Maharashtra on June 8, he said.
Asked about the impact of the Maratha agitation on the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Manoj Jarange said, "I was not involved and have not campaigned for anyone. I just said that people should defeat those who were against us," the PTI reported.
But "never before" Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held so many campaign rallies in Maharashtra, he said.
"He had also never campaigned for different parties contesting on different symbols in the past. But this time he did that. This happened because of four or five state BJP leaders who have hatred for Marathas and other communities," Manoj Jarange said, as per the PTI.
Among BJP leaders, deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Chandrakant Patil hate Marathas, he alleged, adding, "Devendra Fadnavis should shed this hatred as we were never against BJP."
If the government did not grant Kunbi caste certificates to the relatives of the Marathas who have obtained such a certificate, "we will be in the fray for the coming assembly polls," Manoj Jarange warned.
The agrarian Kunbi community is part of the OBC group in the state.
(with PTI inputs)
