Maratha quota stir: Hingoli MP writes resignation at protest site

The CM had given assurance that reservation will be given… I held a meeting regarding this in Delhi recently. I will meet Lok Sabha Speaker and hand over my resignation on Monday to draw their attention to the issue,” he said. The community has been demanding quota in education and government jobs.

Patil was recently in news for allegedly forcing Dr Shyamrao Wakode, the acting dean of the Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital, to clean a toilet in the hospital where 24 people, including 12 infants, died within 24 hours between September 30 and October 1.

Patil took the decision while visiting Umarkhed taluka where some protesters met Patil and stopped him from entering the villages and raised the demand to raise the Maratha reservation issue in the Parliament.

According to a Shiv Sena functionary who was with the MP, “Patil was trying to convince the Maratha community members, saying he himself was in support of their cause, when the protesters got aggressive and asked him to resign if he really meant it. Patil then told the protesters that if his resignation can get reservation for the Marathas, he would do so. Patil then wrote his resignation letter and showed it to the protesters.”

Another functionary said that Patil had no choice but to announce resignation as the protesters got aggressive. “The feelings of the community are very strong. I have been an activist fighting for the Maratha community and farmers for years. I am supporting the reservation movement and I am resigning from my post for Maratha reservation,” the letter addressed to Lok Sabha Speaker stated.
The Maratha community had banned the entry of politicians in their villages over reservation issue. Over 400 villages passed resolutions, while some have written to the authorities informing about the same. Some villages also passed resolutions to boycott the upcoming elections.

Earlier, the Hingoli MP visited Vasant Sahakari Sugar Factory in Pophali village in Yavatmal where he was surrounded by Maratha activists who started raising slogans. Patil said that a meeting of MPs was called in Delhi to discuss the issue of Maratha reservation. “However, if the Maratha brothers demand, I will resign in a minute,” he said.

Meanwhile, Atul Benke, Junnar MLA of NCP, said he is ready to resign in support of the Maratha reservation. “If my resignation is going to help the cause of Maratha reservation, then I am ready to resign…,” he said at a protest by the Maratha community in Junnar.

The issue of Maratha reservation took the centrestage of Maharashtra politics when police allegedly resorted to lathicharge and used tear gas on the protesters in Jalna’s Antarwali village on September 1. The state government came under the fire from opposition leaders, with leaders from all parties going to Antarwali village to support the agitation led by Manoj Jarange Patil and slam the government for using force on the protesters.

The pressure forced the government to initiate talks with Jarange Patil and issue a government resolution to give Kunbi caste certificates to the Marathas whose ancestors were described as Kunbi in Nizam-era documents of the Hyderabad kingdom. It will allow Marathas from the state’s Marathwada region to avail of quota benefits as the Kunbis fall under the OBC group.

Patil, who went on a hunger strike for the first time on August 29 in Jalna, broke his fast on September 14 after Shinde and other ministers visited him and gave him assurances to announce reservation in 40 days, which got over on October 24.

On October 25, Patil started a fresh round of indefinite fast unto death. The state has so far witnessed at least six suicides over the past two weeks in support of the reservation demand.