As a first step towards finding a workable solution to the vexed Maratha reservation issue, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday accepted the interim report submitted by the Justice (retd) Sandeep Shinde Committee, recommending issuance of “Maratha-Kunbi and Kunbi-Maratha certificates” to Marathas to facilitate them get reservations in education and jobs.
On the third consecutive day when protests over the Maratha reservations continued in several parts of the state the hunger agitation by Shivba Sanghatana President Manoj Jarange-Patil entered the seventh day, the State Cabinet accepted the recommendation made by the Justice Shinde Committee to issue “Maratha-Kunbi and Kunbi-Maratha certificates” to the Marathas concerned.
The Justice Shinde committee, which in all perused 1.75 crore caste documents of people from eight districts of Marathwada, found 13,498 registered cases with the Nizam-era proof of Kunbi antecedents of Marathas from Marathwada region.
“The examination of caste documents is going on a day-to-day basis. At its meeting held today, the State Cabinet decided to start issuing the Kunbi certificates immediately,” a statement issued by the state government said.
“During the course of the examination of caste documents, the committee found documents in Modi (a script used to write the Marathi language) and Urdu languages. At today’s Cabinet meeting, it was decided to translate these documents, digitalise them and put them on the public domain. On the basis of these digitised documents to issue the kunbi certificates to the Marathas,” the statement added.
The State Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde decided to adopt the procedure recommended by the Justice Shinde Committee to issue Maratha-Kunbi and Kunbi-Maratha certificates to the beneficiaries.
The State Cabinet formalised the appointment of a three member committee comprising Justice Dilip Bhosale (Retd), Justice M G Gaikwad (Retd) and Justice Sandeep Shinde (Retd) to to look into and advise the state government on reservation issue
The State Cabinet asked the Justice Dilip Bhosale (Retd) committee to collect empirical data on Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) people across the state.
Meanwhile, as part of the ongoing protests over Maratha reservations, Maratha legislators from all political parties staged a protest near the Gandhi statue outside Mantralaya at Nariman Point in south Mumbai.
In an effort to take the Opposition MVA into confidence over the ongoing Maratha reservation agitation, Chief Minister Shinde has convened an all-party meeting on Wednesday to discuss and resolve the situation arising out the hunger agitation by Jarange-Patil.
In a related development, a village panchayat office was set on fire in Jalna district, hundreds of Maratha activists staged a “rail roko” at Solapur. The protesters blocked the passage of one long-distance train before they were quelled by the police.
The state transport bus services remained suspended for the second consecutive day in parts of Parbhani district and at Malkapur in Buldhana district.
A BJP office was set ablaze at Naiknagar in Hingoli district, while a large number of Maratha activists jumped into the stream in Pune as part of their ‘jal-samadhi’ protest.
Scores of Marathas launched relay hunger agitation at Chunabhatti in north-central Mumbai and Mungse village in Nashik district demanding Maratha reservations.
Schools and colleges remained closed at Shevgaon in Ahmednagar district, protesters staged “rasta rook” on the Pune-Bengaluru Highway. Among other things, they threw burning truck tyres on the Navale Bridge and squatted on the road, causing 10 km-long traffic snarls on both sides of the highway.
Some activists took out a symbolic ‘funeral’ procession of the state government at Tembhurni in Solapur district, while half a dozen bus services of Nagpur-Pune remained suspended for the day.
Meanwhile, a day after the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MCA) made a similar demand, Jarange-Patil urged Governor Ramesh Bais to convene a special session of the Maharashtra Legislature.
Jarange-Patil rooted for the convening of a special session of the State Legislature, after he spoke to chief minister Eknath Shinde for half an hour. He told the chief minister that Maratha would not accept “partial and half-hearted” reservations for Marathas. He appealed to his supporters not to indulge in violence.
Uneasy calm prevailed in Beed –where the bungalows of two NCP (Ajit Pawar) Prakash Salunke and Sandeep Kshirsagar were attacked on Monday, while no fresh was reported from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (known earlier as Aurangabad), where BJP MLA Prashant Bamb’s office was set on fire.
Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray spoke to Jarange-Patil over telephone and assured the latter that his party would stood by the Maratha leader in his ongoing agitation over Maratha reservations.