Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil has announced that he will end his hunger strike today (Saturday) as the state government has accepted his demands related to the Maratha reservation in the state of Maharashtra.
Demands of Marathas
Manoj Jarange Patil is an social activist who is continuously voicing out for his Maratha Community. The demands they put in front of the government are, declaring the Maratha community as Socially and Educationally Backward (SEBC), 16 percentage reservation for Marathas in education and employment, free education from kindergarten to higher education and providing Kunbi certificates to all Marathas which falls under Other Backward Class community (OBC).
He already made a hunger strike along with his followers in September 2023 for these demands in Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district of Maharashtra. This strike was broken up by the police force.
Now, he made another round of hunger strike for the same demands on 25 January in Navi, Mumbai. Even though the state police denied permission for this hunger strike he threatened the government that he will enter the Azad Maidan in South Mumbai on January 27 along with thousands of his supporters.
Hunger strike came to end
In this situation, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met jarange on the evening of January 26 in Navi Mumbai and accepted his demands. The meeting was successful as the government came out with an ordinance regarding the reservation demands of Marathas. By this the quota activists agreed to call off their hunger strike.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met Jarange this morning and ended his hunger strike by giving him fruit juice. In this situation, Manoj Patil will hold a victory rally today, it is said that the rally will be held in Vashi.
Earlier, the Maharashtra government enacted a law to implement Maratha reservation, but the Supreme Court on May 5 2021,canceled the Maratha reservation, stating that there were no reasonable grounds for exceeding the 50 percent reservation while providing seats to the Maratha community. Now Chief Minister after consulting the officials assured that the Maratha reservation will be implemented without disturbing the existing quota of other communities.
