Jarange Patil warns govt over conflicting statements, threatens of fast from Feb 10

The state government has given February 16 as the deadline seeking suggestions and objections on the notification of the draft of amended rules which included the word ‘sage-soyare’ as demanded by Jarange-Patil.

Jarange-Patil said that he had no confusion over the effectiveness of the notification, but was worried after contrasting statements emerged from the government. Without naming deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who had said that he would even approach Delhi to ensure OBC reservation is not harmed, Patil said that ‘one person’ was talking about going to Delhi. “We were not to make any statement till February 16. But we are talking now because there are two different statements from the state government and we decided to be on alert mode,” said Jarange-Patil, questioning why there were two statements from the state government.

He was speaking at a press conference after paying respects to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Raigad fort. He claimed that the decision has been taken in consultation with public and the government should realise that the Maratha agitation was for the immediate implementation of the notification and a permanent law. He also said that the cases against Maratha protesters should also be withdrawn immediately, by February 10.

“It has been noticed that the Shinde committee (retired justice Sandeep Shinde) is not functioning properly. We have still not accepted the Hyderabad Gazette (for Kunbi records of Marathas) and even the process of handing out Kunbi certificates has not started. The government must accept the census of 1884,” he said, adding that he will not back down until every Maratha gets reservation.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission has extended the deadline of an ongoing survey to collect empirical data to prove social and educational backwardness of Marathas within two days. Earlier the survey was to end by January 31. The new deadline has been fixed for February 2. The data is being prepared to be presented in front of the Supreme Court which is presently hearing the curative petition on Maratha reservation filed by the Maharashtra government.