The clamour for reservations for Marathas in jobs and education reached the doorsteps of Mumbai on Thursday evening, as thousands of Marathas, led by Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil, arrived in Navi Mumbai en route to the historic Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, where they will converge on Friday.
The Maratha activists, who began their march to Mumbai from Jarange Patil’s home village of Antaravali-Sarate in Jalna district in the Marathwada region on January 20, will lay siege to Maharashtra’s State capital on Friday morning to pressure the Shinde Sena-BJP-NCP (Ajit Pawar) Government to fulfill its promise of implementing reservations for their community.
Raising slogans like “Ek Maratha, Lak Maratha”, the Maratha agitators stepped into Navi Mumbai on Thursday evening, a satellite town of Mumbai, where they will stay overnight in the Vashi APMC Market area before heading towards Azad Maidan via Chembur in north-central Mumbai.
Given that the Mumbai Police have declined permission for the Maratha procession to enter several venues in the metropolis, including Azad Maidan, Shivaji Park, and other locations, citing a lack of space, it remains to be seen how the Mumbai police will tackle the lakhs of Marathas who have threatened to storm Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
Before the morcha’s entry into Mumbai, the State government had sent out a delegation to meet Jarange Patil, who is leading the morcha, to engage in discussions. However, the talks did not yield any results, as the Maratha leader was in no mood to confer with them.
Speaking to the media, Jarange Patil said, “How can we talk to some government officials? We want Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar to sit across from us and resolve the issue. We are prepared to cooperate with the State government.”
For more than five months, Jarange-Patil has been leading the agitation, demanding reservations for Marathas in jobs and education.
It may be recalled that Jarange-Patil, who had initiated a hunger strike in Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district from August 29, demanding reservations for the Maratha community, called off his fast on September 14. This decision came after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met him and assured that his government would fulfill all demands, including providing Kunbi OBC community caste certificates to all Marathas.
Since then, Jarange-Patil has expanded his support base by addressing rallies in various district headquarters across the State.
In a related development, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Nana Patole said that the fact the Maratha community had to come to Mumbai was the biggest failure of the Shinde-BJP government. Patole added, “The state government made announcements and even issued statements that it would give reservations to the Maratha community. But, so far, nothing has happened. The Shinde government has been misleading the Maratha community. The Maratha community has been misled by the state government in the name of reservation, and the Maratha community coming to Mumbai is a big failure of the Shinde-BJP government,” Patole said.