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Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has demanded during talks with a government delegation that reservation should be provided to Marathas throughout Maharashtra.
According to PTI report, A delegation of retired high court judges Sandeep Shinde, M G Gaikwad and others including officials met Jarange who is on an indefinite hunger strike at his village Antarwali Sarati in Jalna district since October 25 for the Maratha quota demand.
MLA Bachchu Kadu, who supports the ruling alliance, was also present.
Jarange had said on Wednesday evening that he would not be drinking even water from now on even though an all-party meeting passed a resolution earlier in the day supporting the demand of quota and appealing him to call off his fast.
During the discussion on Thursday, which took place in front of the media, Jarange demanded that the government should provide enough funds and deploy multiple teams for the survey of the economic and social backwardness of the Maratha community.
A government order granting Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas should be passed and the word `throughout’ (Maharashtra) should be included, he demanded.
The government has already started the process of giving Kunbi certificates to Marathas from the Marathwada region who can produce old records referring to them or their ancestors as Kunbi. Kunbi, an agrarian community, gets reservation in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. “When other castes are getting reservation benefits, why Marathas are not getting them?’ Jarange asked.
The delegation members told him that reservation can not be given “in a day or two”, but the Maratha community will certainly get it.
Backwardness of the community has not been established yet and work of collecting evidence as per a Supreme Court order is underway, they said.
A decision taken in haste will not stand judicial scrutiny, and a new commission is being formed to measure the community’s backwardness, the delegation told Jarange.
