Maratha quota stir: Dy CM Ajit Pawar skips Baramati visit as protests escalate

As the stir over the Maratha reservation continues to rise, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar cancelled his Saturday visit to Baramati– his hometown in Pune district.

His entry was opposed by Maratha Kranti Morcha. The deputy CM was to attend an event scheduled on Saturday.

According to his close aides, Pawar was to visit Baramati to be present during the beginning of the new sugarcane crushing season of the Malegaon cooperative sugar factory which has been under the control of Pawar for more than two decades.

On Saturday, Maratha protestors gathered in large numbers outside the Malegaon factory. A substantial police force has been deployed in the area, where the protestors have assembled to voice their demands.

Maratha reservation activists across the state have threatened to ban the entry of political leaders till the state government fulfils their demand of bringing in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota for the community.

Over 500 villages have banned the entry of politicians. With the latest development, the number is likely to increase.

This extends to leaders of other political parties, who have been barred from attending any event in Baramati. The Maratha demonstrators have currently converged in Malegaon near the factory for protest.

In Sangli, district guardian minister Suresh Khade was shown black flags by the Maratha community members.

Earlier on Friday, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) legislator Rohit Pawar suspended his ongoing Yuva Sangharsh Yatra citing his support of the demand for the Maratha reservation.

Rohit’s March between Pune to Nagpur came amidst a call by Maratha reservation protestors to ban the entry to leaders in their towns and villages.

To intensify the agitation, community members from the Pune district have started a chain strike from Wednesday to support quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil’s hunger protest.

Manoj Jarange-Patil, the face of the quota stir, who sat on hunger strike for days, earlier had said that he is determined on the inclusion of the Maratha community in the OBC category for reservation and has demanded a law for the same.

On October 25, the Maratha quota activist once again started his fast-unto-death in Antarwali Saraati village of Jalna after the 40-day ultimatum to the state government to decide on giving Kunbi caste certificates to all Marathas for OBC benefits ended on Tuesday.

This is the second time Jarange-Patil will go on an indefinite hunger strike. Last month, he went on a 17-day hunger strike but called it off on September 14 in the presence of Shinde and other ministers after they sought 30 days to resolve the issue.

Significantly, on Wednesday, Jarange-Patil extended his support to the Dhangars and advised them to make their protests widespread.

The Maratha community, led by Jarange-Patil, has been demanding the issuance of Kunbi certificates to Marathas, enabling them to be included in the OBC category. OBCs, unwilling to share their quota pie, have strongly resisted this. Dhangars, who get 3.5% reservation in the nomadic tribe quota, have been demanding inclusion in the scheduled tribe (ST) quota of 7% for a larger slice of the reservation pie.

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Marathas are a politically significant community comprising around 32% of Maharashtra’s population. The demand for reservations poses a challenge to the three-party coalition government in the state.

The demand for quotas by Marathas is decades old, but in 2018, the state government granted 16% reservation in the face of widespread protests. It was slashed to 13% in jobs and 12% in education by the Bombay high court. In 2021, the Supreme Court quashed the move.

Meanwhile, the state government has decided not to bow before any ‘pressure tactics’ and has reportedly decided to counter the attack from the Maratha community outfits.

The state government formed a committee under retired judge Sandeep Shinde to decide the methodology to issue Kunbi certificates to community members.

The government has given two months to the committee on the issue making it clear that there was no possibility of any decision of issuing Kunbi certificates to Maratha community members anytime soon.