Activist Manoj Jarange Patil Tuesday announced he will withdraw his indefinite hunger strike and give one month’s time to the Maharashtra government to provide reservations to the Maratha community.
The Maratha activist has been on a hunger strike since August 29 demanding that a Government Resolution be issued providing reservation in jobs and education to Marathas on an immediate basis.
While making the announcement Tuesday, Jarange Patil also laid down a few other conditions to the government – withdrawal of cases registered against Maratha protesters, the guarantee of providing Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas after 30 days, suspension of police officials who issued orders to lathi charge Maratha protesters in Jalna on September 1, written assurance from the government on the quota issue, and the presence of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his two deputies at the time he would break his fast.
While consulting members of his community on the decision to discontinue the hunger strike, Jarange Patil said, “We have waited for 40 years. Our experts also said that it takes time for the procedure (of giving reservations) to be completed. If you (community members) also agree, then we will call the government and give them time. But if our demands are not fulfilled, we will again start the protest from the 31st day.”
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Under pressure from protesters, the state government last week issued a Government Resolution on the Maratha reservation, stating that it has decided to provide Kunbi caste certificates to all Marathas from Marathwada who possess Nizam-era revenue and educational records, and other supporting documents to prove their genealogy.
The government also set up a five-member committee headed by Justice (retd) Sandeep Shinde to prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) for issuing Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas and a framework for the verification of genealogy documents within a month’s time.
Jarange Patil, however, did not accept the resolution and urged the government to relax the condition of furnishing genealogy documents.
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