Mumbai: Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil is back in the political spotlight. This time, he is threatening to hold a hunger strike in Mumbai if the Maratha community isn’t granted reservation under the Kunbi category in the OBC quota. Jarange-Patil plans to launch his hunger strike at Azad Maidan on Friday after police granted him permission for a one-day protest demonstration with 5,000 people from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m, with restrictions.
Protestors will not be allowed to take out a morcha and not more than five vehicles will be allowed at Azad Maidan to prevent overcrowding during the Ganesh festival. The rest will have to be parked at designated spots. Jarange-Patil said he cannot accept a one-day limit.
“Till the time my demand is not met, I will not leave Mumbai,” Patil told the media on Wednesday. “Rest all of their conditions, we will follow and won’t create any issue. If you are just giving us one day, then fulfill our demands within a day,” he added.
Patil, who made headlines during the Lok Sabha elections but was missing during the assembly polls, is once again appealing to the Maratha community to back him, saying he won’t return to his village, Antarwali Sarati, until his demand is met.
Jarange says that a separate quota for Marathas won’t stand in a court of law. Hence, it doesn’t make sense to give quota, especially for Marathas. Instead, he contends if Kunbi certificates are given, Marathas can get quota under OBCs.
Jarange-Patil’s anger is directed not at the entire Mahayuti government but specifically at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a Brahmin leader, which has not gone down well with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On the other hand, he’s taken a comparatively softer stance towards deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, both Marathas. “Jarange is taking a political stand more than a social stand. Though reservation is the crux of it, he is targeting Fadnavis without any provocation,” said political analyst Hemant Desai.
“Surprisingly, he has a lot of crowd behind him. And his return once again, just ahead of the local body elections, could benefit Shinde, especially in Marathwada and Vidarbha, where his party has a base. But we need to see how this plays out on the ground,” he added.
On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court denied him permission to march towards Mumbai, saying it would create a law and order situation during the 10-day Ganesh festival. It also cited the newly formulated Public Meetings, Agitations and Processions Rules, 2025, which require prior police permission.
Deputy CM Shinde told reporters in Thane Wednesday that though everyone has the right to protest in a democracy, law and order must be maintained during the Ganesh festival. He also subtly hinted that it was under him, as chief minister, that the cabinet had approved Maratha reservation.
“When I was the CM, our cabinet had given a 10 percent reservation to the Maratha community. I had taken the oath of Shivaji Maharaj, and it still holds true. Through the Justice Shinde committee, Backward Class Commission, any other committee, whatever we could give, including Kunbi certificates, we have given to the community,” Shinde said.
“Our only request was that people should not be inconvenienced during the Ganesh festival and everyone should take care of it,” he added.
Jarange-Patil had appealed to the community that this would be the “final agitation and everyone should come forward and make it a success”.
In August 2023, Jarange-Patil began a hunger strike to demand reservations for Marathas under the OBC category in his village of Antarwali Sarati in Jalna. At the time, Mahayuti 1.0 was in power with Eknath Shinde at the helm.
Police, under the home minister and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the protest.
Since then, Jarange-Patil has been accusing Fadnavis of trying to break his agitation and not giving reservations to Marathas.
In January 2024, he began a march towards Mumbai, but was placated at Navi Mumbai, where Shinde promised to give in to his demands and form a committee under Justice Shinde to authenticate Kunbi certificates for Marathas.
His agitation received strong support during the Lok Sabha elections, partly contributing to the Mahayuti’s loss of seven out of eight seats in Marathwada. However, the agitation fizzled out during the assembly elections when he backtracked on an earlier announcement to contest, citing lack of preparations.
Analysts said Shinde stands to gain the most from Jarange-Patil’s agitation.
“It looks like Shinde can benefit from Jarange-Patil. He also projected himself as a Maratha leader and continues to say how he was instrumental in bringing in reservations for Marathas. With Patil targeting Fadnavis and the cold war between Shinde and Fadnavis, Shinde can leverage this during seat-sharing in local body polls, especially in Ch Sambhajinagar, and other parts of Marathwada,” said Desai.
Jarange targets Fadnavis
Tensions escalated when Jarange-Patil, who has been targeting Fadnavis, used derogatory language against Fadnavis’ mother at a public meeting Sunday in Beed.
The BJP was furious and party leaders like Nitesh Rane, Pravin Darekar and Chitra Wagh slammed Jarange-Patil. Rane issued a strong warning saying, “Jarange-Patil should mind his tongue, or else we will chop his tongue.”
Darekar also hit out at Jarange-Patil. “Nobody is questioning your protest morcha. But if you use a protest morcha to target our CM and abuse him, we will have to react strongly,” he said.
On Tuesday, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule reminded Jarange-Patil that it was initially under the Devendra Fadnavis government, between 2014 and 2019, that the Marathas received reservation. But it was struck down by the Supreme Court.
“I want to say that Fadnavis ji has put everything at stake for the Maratha reservation. If you are going to use abusive language, then we will not tolerate this. If you want to protest, then do it, but nobody will tolerate this language,” he said.
Jarange-Patil apologised for his language, but continued to target Fadnavis.
“I have information that Fadnavis is not letting Shinde work. It has been eight months since he became CM, but still, nothing has progressed. Why? This means he is not letting even Shinde work. He has not even let Ajit dada work. This proves he has not let Shinde and Ajit dada work,” he told the media on Monday.
Last week, the government decided to reconstitute a 12-member subcommittee with Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil as its head. Vikhe Patil is an established Maratha leader from Ahmednagar district.
“By making Vikhe Patil the head of the subcommittee, Fadnavis tried to control the situation. Vikhe hails from Ahmednagar, which is next to Jalna and Ch Sambhajinagar,” said Desai.
The other ministers in the panel are Girish Mahajan, Ashish Shelar, Shivendraraje Bhosale, Uday Samant, Dada Bhuse, Shambhuraj Desai, Manikrao Kokate, Babasaheb Patil and Makrand Patil. A secretary from the general administration department is also a member.
The subcommittee has decided to extend the tenure of the Justice Shinde committee by six months.
“I have requested Jarange-Patil to let the report of the Justice Shinde committee come and we will take a call then. We have to remember that Fadnavis was the first one to take a call regarding Maratha reservation. I still want to request him that Jarange-Patil should not go ahead with the agitation because we are positive,” said Vikhe Patil.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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