Maratha quota: Health worsens, but Jarange Patil intensifies stir; asks protesters to fast-unto-death from tomorrow
In the same breath, he once again appealed to Maratha youths to shun extreme steps like suicides for the sake of reservation, and told them to keep politicians away from the villages.
Directing the Maratha community not to allow political leaders near them, Jarange Patil said, ''Don't allow political leaders at our doorstep and you should also not go to their doorstep.'' (File)
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Even as his health deteriorated, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Saturday further intensified his agitation as he asked the community members to fast unto death in all villages across Maharashtra starting Sunday. He also urged the state government, one last time, to take his agitation seriously and provide reservation. In the same breath, he once again appealed to Maratha youths to shun extreme steps like suicides for the sake of reservation, and told them to keep politicians away from the villages.
”I urge the government to take our agitation seriously, provide reservation to Marathas on top priority. I am telling the government one last time… don’t take the agitation lightly… don’t be complacent. Otherwise, you will find it difficult to handle what comes next,” Jarange Patil said at a press conference in Antarwali Saraati village of Jalna district where he relaunched his fast-unto-death four days ago.
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Exhorting Maratha youths not to end their lives, Jarange Patil said, “Maratha youths should remember that we are going to win the agitation… So, I urge community members to stop our youths from ending their lives.”
He added, “Today is October 28. From Sunday, we are launching our second phase of the agitation. This will be the biggest ever fast-unto-death in the country wherein a large number of citizens will be participating. From tomorrow, our community members should hold fast-unto-death at the village level across the state. Everyone should drink water and then start fast-unto-death from tomorrow.”
“The agitation can be undertaken by those for whom it is possible. Villagers should sit together in one place for the fast-unto-death. We want to see if this has an effect on the government and whether it takes our agitation seriously. If anything happens to those fasting, the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Ministers and the state government will be fully accountable.”
Directing the Marathas to not allow political leaders near them, Jarange Patil said, ”Don’t allow political leaders at our doorstep, and you should not go to their doorstep either.”
The activist said the third phase of the agitation will start October 31. “Information about the third phase will be given on October 30,” he said.
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Jarange Patil has refused treatment and is turning away doctors appointed by the state government to monitor his health. He said, ”I have no health issues. I am having some problem as I am not drinkng water, but this problem is not bigger than the issue of quota for Marathas. The careers prospects of Maratha youths is being deliberately wrecked. They are being robbed of opportunities that will help them make it big in life.”
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