Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Prasad Lad on Friday reached out to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil and assured him that the Devendra Fadnavis-led government would take the necessary steps to fulfil his pending demands.
The meeting follows Jarange-Patil’s announcement of plans to go on an indefinite hunger strike from May 30 at Antarwali Sarati in Jalna.
Lad told Jarange-Patil that he would discuss his points with the government
“I am confident that Jarange-Patil will be satisfied with the efforts being made by the government to address the demands of the Maratha community. I told the activist that no other government has done as much for the Maratha community as the Fadnavis government has. I stand with the Maratha community and, as a member of the community, I will not hesitate to give up my membership in the Legislative Council,” said Lad, a member of the state legislative council.
A government functionary said the outreach comes against the backdrop of a view in the government that it was best to avoid any development that spotlights public discontentment. He said the ruling alliance wanted to persuade the Maratha quota activist to at least defer the protest, if not call it off entirely.
Jarange-Patil announced the indefinite strike nine months after his Mumbai protest to press for demands related to reservation for the Maratha community. Following the meeting with Lad on Friday, the Maratha quota activist said that the assurances related to Maratha reservation, made during his Mumbai protest in August last year, had still not been implemented by the government.
“The state government issued government resolutions for the implementation of the Hyderabad gazette records and for issuing Kunbi certificates to all Marathas, but the implementation process has lost pace. Kunbi certificates are not being issued, and district-level officials claim they have directions from the chief minister not to issue them. Validity certificates are also not being issued to Maratha students who have applied on the basis of Kunbi certificates,” he said.
Jarange-Patil also said that cases registered against Maratha activists during the quota protests hadn’t been withdrawn yet. He added that the financial development corporation, which provides interest subvention funding for entrepreneurial projects for the Maratha community, had not been allocated funds.
He also wanted the committee headed by retired judge Sandeep Shinde to be granted a one-year extension to collate more Kunbi-related documents, enabling Marathas to avail of the OBC quota.
Jarange-Patil also wants the government to keep the Maratha and Kunbi departments separate to ensure focused efforts for the Maratha community. He also said that the admissions of over 6 million Maratha students will be jeopardised if their OBC certificates are not issued in time.
“Welcoming the government’s initiative for dialogue, I apprised Lad about our pending eight to nine demands and expect them to be resolved before May 30. Lad assured me that he would take up the issues with the cabinet sub-committee appointed for the Maratha quota and, if needed, with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and get back to us by May 28. We have not withdrawn our protest call, and if the demands are not met, we will have no option but to go ahead with the scheduled protest,” he said.
Jarange-Patil added that, in view of the dialogue initiated with the government, he had asked community members to put their pre-protest meetings on hold.
“Since the meetings convened for preparations and planning have been put on hold, the planning process is likely to be affected. In such a situation, I may have to alter the course of action and, if needed, begin the protest alone. In that case, I will appeal to community members not to come to Antarwali Sarati to join the protest,” he said.
