Manoj Jarange Patil: Agitation to continue till all Marathas get reservation

Stating that 57 lakh Kunbi records have been found and 39 lakh individuals have been issued caste certificates so far, Jarange Patil also expressed concern over those whose records have not been found.

Manoj Jarange Patil during the Maratha Reservation Front's march at Viman Nagar in Pune on January 24. (PTI Photo)

A day after the Maharashtra government accepted all demands of the Maratha community and also issued a gazette notification for expanding the scope of OBC category, quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil Sunday announced that his agitation will continue till Kunbi caste tertificates are issued to all Marathas.

“The agitation will continue till notification issued by the government is implemented. The agitation will continue till the last Maratha gets the Kunbi caste certificate,” Jarange Patil told mediapersons in Antarwali-Saraati in Jalna district.

Jarange Patil arrived in Antarwali-Saraati Saturday evening where he was given a rousing welcome.
“Marathas have won this battle 100 per cent. There is no reason to doubt government intention. But till all Marathas get reservation, our agitation will continue,” he said.

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“The government has issued draft rules of amending the Act to expand the OBC category. Till the government implements the gazette notification, the agitation will continue… After the first caste certificate is issued, we will hold our victory rally… I have urged the government to start implementing the notification regarding ‘’sage soyre’ (relatives from a family tree) from tomorrow. The notification is both for OBCs and Marathas,” he added.
When asked about Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s statement that not all cases against agitators will be withdrawn, Jarange Patil, “If that is the case, then the agitation will continue… Let him say what he wants to.”
Asked about Minister Chhagan Bhujbal’s criticism of the government decision, Jarange Patil said, “The way he is raising the decibel level, it shows the government move is on the right path. We don’t care about his statements. He has been making such statements and let him continue.”

The activist said, “The notification issued by the government will be converted into a law. The opponents will submit their objections. We should also submit our suggestions and support to the notification. Marathas should express their support to the notification on social media as well.”

Stating that 57 lakh Kunbi records have been found and 39 lakh individuals have been issued caste certificates so far, Jarange Patil also expressed concern over those whose records have not been found.

“There was a big question mark about those whose Kunbi records have not been found. Since ‘sage-soyre’ word has been included in the notification, those whose Kunbi records have been found should submit an affidavit of their close relatives. If that record is false, then that person will lose his or her reservation. But our demand is that the close relatives of those whose Kunbi record has been found should also at least get one caste certificate.”

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Citing an earlier law passed by the state government, he also emphasised that the law should not remain on paper,
“If a law is made, but if it does not benefit, then what is its use? A law was passed on June 1, 2004 which said that Marathas and Kunbis are one and the same. Eighteen years have passed, but it has not benefitted anyone,” Jarange Patil said.

Manoj Dattatrye More

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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