Jarange threatens to give up water from today; BJP ministers raise EWS angle

Mumbai: Manoj Jarange’s stir at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan for Maratha quota entered the third day on Sunday with the activist hardening his stand by maintaining his demand was constitutionally valid, even as some Maharashtra ministers from the BJP said the community must avail the existing EWS quota.

He has been demanding 10 per cent quota for Marathas and wants them to be recognised as Kunbis -- an agrarian caste included in the Other Backward Classes category -- which will make them eligible for reservation in government jobs and education.

Asserting that he will not leave Mumbai till his demands are met, Jarange said, “The government has records of 58 lakh Marathas as Kunbis.”

Jarange, who refused to soften his stand after a delegation under retired HC judge Sandeep Shinde met him a day earlier, on Sunday said, “From tomorrow, I will stop taking water as the government is not accepting the demands. But I am not going back till the quota demand is met. We will get Marathas reservation under the OBC category no matter what.”

Meanwhile, Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Nitesh Rane, both from the BJP, have said the Maratha community should benefit from the existing EWS quota rather than being categorised as OBCs. Both Patil and Rane belong to the Maratha community.

Rane also accused NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar of funding Jarange’s protest

Speaking to reporters in Solapur district on Sunday, Chandrakant Patil said Marathas never faced untouchability and were not backward by caste, but shrinking landholdings over the years pushed them into financial distress.