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This is an archive article published on February 21, 2024

Jarange roars again, announces one more round of agitation from Feb 24

Seeks reservation to Marathas within OBC quota

Manoj Jarange-PatilManoj Jarange-Patil. (Express photo)

Upset over the state government not granting reservation to Maratha community within OBC quota, activist Manoj Jarange-Patil announced a state-wide agitation from February 24. At the same time, he appealed to the Election Commission not to hold elections till the gazette notification related to ‘sage soyare’ is converted into a law.

“Till the gazette notification related to ‘sage-soyare’ is implemented, the Election Commission should not hold elections,” Jarange-Patil told reporters in Antarwali-Saraati village on Wednesday.

The activist urged Maratha community to ‘seize’ the vehicles of politicians if they come to campaign in their villages. “If the Election Commission still holds the election despite our appeal, then we should seize the vehicles of leaders who come to campaign in our villages,” he said.

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“From February 24, we should hold a rasta roko in every village….A memorandum should be given to local police. The memorandum should demand implementation of the notification regarding sage soyare….A similar agitation should be held on February 25 where memorandum should be given to government officers,” he said.

Jarange-Patil said from February 28, elders from Maratha community should hold a hunger strike. “If any senior citizen dies while holding the hunger strike, the state government will be solely responsible for it,” he said.

Asking MLAs and MPs to stay away from Maratha community, Jarange-Patil said, “I want to request leaders not to come to our doorstep. They should stay away from us. They should stay away from our farms. MLAs and MPs should not approach Maratha community. If these leaders come to our villages for campaign, take control of their vehicles and park them at one place. If the government fails to implement the notification relating ‘sage soyare’ from February 24 to 29, then everyone from Maratha community should start hunger strike.”

The activist said the state government ignored his demand for giving reservation to Maratha community in OBC category. “Instead, the government has given 10 per cent reservation which will not stand judicial scrutiny…In 2018 too, such a reservation was given when the elections were near. But now Maratha community knows the strategy of the government. We will not fall prey to them. Therefore, they should scrap the latest reservation ploy and give us reservation in OBC category and implement the law related to ‘sage soyare.’

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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