This is an archive article published on December 14, 2023
After Bhujbal alleges threat to his life, Jarange says govt is ‘scared’ of minister
Jarange-Patil is undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar where he was admitted last evening after his health deteriorated.
EVEN AS Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who has raised the pitch against Marathas’ demand for reservation in OBC category, said in the Assembly on Wednesday that a bullet might be fired at him and he was ready to die, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil said the state government was scared of the OBC leader.
”Chhagan Bhujbal makes wild statements. By stating that there is a threat to his life, Bhujbal is trying to free himself from the ‘crime’ he has committed. This is what Devendra Fadnavis (Deputy CM) does not understand. The government is afraid of Bhujbal. Bhujbal has aged and that is why he is making all sorts of statements. He does not understand what he is speaking,” Jarange-Patil responded to Bhujbal’s claim while speaking to reporters in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.
Jarange-Patil is undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar where he was admitted last evening after his health deteriorated.
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Speaking in the Assembly on Wednesday, Bhujbal said, “Preparations are being done to attack me. Police have told me that they have received a report which says a bullet will be fired at me…Let them kill me, I am ready to die..I have no objection…I am not opposed to Maratha reservation. Give reservation to Marathas but stop the mobocracy.”
Bhujbal said in Beed, agitators torched the properties of Prakash Solanke and Sandeep Shirsagar. ”Nobody is ready to go to Beed…”
Jarange-Patil said Bhujbal should remember that he was a minister and should utter good words for Maratha community. Did we say even one word against OBC community. I will speak against Bhujbal all my life…he can’t get away,” Jarange said.
Jarange-Patil said Bhujbal was in the habit creating rift between communities. ”We have shown respect to the government…If the government listens to Bhujbal, then we will not tolerate it,” he said.
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Jarange-Patil said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde does not lie. ”Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should also not speak lies. The government had promised to withdraw cases against Maratha agitators. Fadnavis should speak the truth and withdraw the cases. Otherwise the Maratha community will have no other option than to launch an agitation,” he said. Jarange-Patil said leaders are not bigger than their caste. ”Nitesh Rane says there is ban on political leaders from entering villages. When I ended the fast, the ban was lifted. Rane must be under pressure and that is why he is speaking against us. He should speak in favour of Maratha community. A political party is not bigger than the community,” he said.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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