17-day hunger strike : Jarange defies protest denial, heads to Mumbai

Undeterred by the police denying him permission to protest in Mumbai, fasting Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Tuesday set out for the Maharashtra capital from Jalna district in a convoy of cars, drawing hundreds of villagers en route who extended their support.

Hinting that the government won't tolerate any intimidating tactics, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said maintaining law and order is the police's responsibility, even as he questioned the timing of the agitation during the Ganesh festival.

"The government expects people won't be inconvenienced and Ganeshotsav won't face any obstacle (due to protests). It is a very big festival in Mumbai and Pune and is celebrated publicly as one of the biggest Hindu festivals," he told reporters in Mumbai.

Mumbai Police earlier denied permission to Jarange, who has been on a hunger strike for the last 17 days demanding OBC quota for Maratha community members with Kunbi caste genealogies, to take the protest to Azad Maidan, citing law and order concerns during the ongoing Ganesh festival.

Though defiant, Jarange tweaked his earlier plan to mobilise Maratha community members in Mumbai and decided to travel solo with a select group of 5-10 associates amid tight security.

His carcade will pass through Beed, Srigonda in Ahilyanagar, Hadapsar in Pune and Khopoli in Raigad district before reaching Azad Maidan in Mumbai on September 19, covering more than 400 km.

Frail and slumped in the front seat of a car, Jarange, dressed in his trademark white shirt and trousers, cited the Bombay High Court's ruling, which had refused to restrain him from staging a protest in Mumbai.

''Nothing is more important for me than my community. I will die for my community or get a reservation for them. The court has said that if anyone is agitating democratically, it cannot be stopped. The judiciary is with us," he told reporters.

Jarange reiterated that a conspiracy had been hatched to kill him.

"Does (Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis want to kill me with bullets? I am coming alone. They have chalked a plan to kill me. No matter what, even if they kill me, I will not let betrayal take place to the Maratha community,'' the quota activist said.

Earlier in the morning, Jarange underwent a health check-up, paid obeisance to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and visited two temples in the village.

His convoy includes two SUVs and as many ambulances.

Jarange entered Beed via the Godavari river bridge around 8.30 pm on Tuesday. At Shahgad, his supporters greeted the cavalcade with massive floral garlands and raised slogans demanding reservation for the Maratha community. After public felicitations across Georai and Beed city, the convoy made its first scheduled night halt at Patoda.

Medical personnel attending to Jarange said his health has deteriorated over the past 48 hours as he refused water and essential treatment.

On Tuesday, a legal team acting on Jarange's behalf filed a third application before the Mumbai Police, seeking permission for a restricted protest comprising Jarange and four to five associates.

Fadnavis, meanwhile, said police had rejected Jarange's application earlier seeking permission to protest in Mumbai, and any fresh application will be decided on its merits.

He said the government had accepted 12 of the 13 "legally valid" demands raised by Maratha protesters.

"The government had also explained the legal difficulties concerning the remaining demand and how going against a court order could harm the Maratha community," Fadnavis added.

Sumitra Jarange, Jarange's wife, alleged the government had forced her husband to go to Mumbai by not acting on his demands.

''The government is incapable of understanding us. If they had taken decisions earlier, he would not have set out for Mumbai. When every person has the right to agitate, how can the government deny permission for our agitation?" she said.

Referring to Fadnavis's wife Amruta Fadnavis, who last week called Manoj Jarange her brother, Sumitra said, "I ask my sister-in-law to tell her husband to grant reservation to her brother's children.''

Asked about her husband's claim that the government was planning to kill him, she said, ''He never says anything without having information. His words are always true. The government should take some concrete decisions because he (Jarange) has been without food and water for 18 days.

''Earlier CM Fadnavis had said that the government has accepted all his demands which were within the Constitutional framework. Then we are also agitating within the constitutional framework,'' she said.

Jarange's daughter said the government should not make the mistake of arresting him.

"The government is using God (Ganesh festival) as a pretext for denying permission (for agitation). The same god will punish them,'' she said.

Jarange had led a major five-day protest and a hunger strike at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on August 29, 2025, demanding Kunbi (OBC) caste certificates for eligible Marathas. The stir was called off on September 2, 2025, after the state government accepted six of eight demands and initiated administrative steps for Kunbi classification certificates.