Mumbai: OBC activist Laxman Hake is refusing to quit his hunger fast until he receives an assurance from Maharashtra’s Mahayuti government that OBC reservation would not be tampered with in order to accommodate the Maratha community.
Hake and another activist Navnath Waghmare have been sitting on the hunger strike at Wadigodri village in Jalna district since 13 June.
The protest comes close on the heels of Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil’s strike for reservation for the community earlier this month.
The OBC activists have been demanding the scrapping of the Maharashtra government’s draft notification that recognises Kunbis as ‘sage soyare‘ of Maratha community members. The term ‘sage soyare’ in Marathi means through birth relations and relations by marriage. Kunbi, an agrarian group, enjoys quota benefits under the OBC category.
“Jarange is creating confusion and because of that Maratha youth are committing suicide over reservation. Jarange is comparing Marathas to OBC communities,” Hake told the media Thursday.
He added that Jalna district guardian minister Atul Save, Rajya Sabha member Bhagwat Karad, and newly elected Aurangabad MP Sandipan Bhumre had met them Monday, not as government representatives but in their personal capacity.
A Maharashtra government delegation will reportedly meet Hake Friday.
Hake was earlier associated with the Shiv Sena UBT but is not associated with the party anymore, a party functionary told ThePrint.
Hake was one of the members of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission but he along with two other members quit the panel last December citing “government interference” in the work of the commission that’s supposed to be independent.
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After Marathas, now OBCs protest
On Thursday, Congress leader and OBC face Vijay Wadettiwar met Hake at the protest site.
Speaking to the media, he said: “Our community has suffered a lot, who will give us justice? Everyone blames us despite we being the ones who are suffering and hence protesting for our rights.”
“The government is creating a rift between two communities. They are also giving false assurances to the Maratha community. They have started this fire, they need to think about it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jarange-Patil is pressing for Marathas to get reservation within the OBC category and has said he won’t hesitate in fielding candidates on all 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, if the reservation issue was not resolved.
“We won’t say anything about their (OBC) agitation. They have a right to do their agitation. I have nothing to do with those who go and meet them. There is a possibility the government is backing such agitations so that they keep dragging their feet on our demands. How has this (OBC protest) happened all of a sudden?” Jarange asked, speaking to the media Wednesday.
The same day, state minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan, speaking to the media in Pune, accused the opposition of deriving political mileage from the Maratha reservation issue and asserted that it was the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis government which granted the quota to the Marathas without disturbing the allocation of other communities.
Mahajan said that while Jarange-Patil is demanding reservation for ‘sage soyare’, it will not pass the legal test in court. “As far as I know, such a reservation cannot be given, but if there is a workable solution, the government will pursue it,” he said.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar met Hake and Waghmare at Wadigodri to extend his support.
Ambedkar said the government had failed to address the concerns of both Marathas and OBC members. “The government needs to seriously look into this matter. The Marathas and OBCs need to be given different reservation. This could lead to a confrontation between the communities,” he told the media.
“No Maratha leader speaks on the OBC protest. They are just watching. There should be efforts to stop (any potential) confrontation. Maratha leaders should come forward to calm both communities,” Ambedkar added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Related communities with agrarian roots — why Marathas are claiming to be Kunbis amid quota stir