Even as the Maratha community began its silent protests at the Shahu Samadhi in Kolhapur on Wednesday, the state government invited MP Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, who is spearheading the agitation, to hold a dialogue and find a solution to the demand for reservation in education and jobs.
“The government is positive about resolving the Maratha community’s demands. On behalf of the chief minister and deputy chief minister, I invite you to hold talks with government and find a solution to the demands raised by the community,” said state minister Satej Patil.
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The agitation started around 10 am, with MLAs and MPs across party lines present on the occasion to express their support for the Maratha community
Stating that the government supports the stance adopted by the Maratha community, Patil said, “The government has already taken some steps for the welfare of the Maratha community and will take more steps as demanded by the community. And for this to happen, the government is ready hold a dialogue. Sambhajiraje and Maratha community coordinators should meet the chief minister and deputy chief minister in Mumbai. They are ready for a dialogue tomorrow itself,” he said.
Patil said whether it was about strengthening SARATHI, giving more funds to the Annasaheb Patil Mahamandal, setting up of hostels or giving scholarships to students of the community, the government has already initiated steps in this direction. “The government spares no effort in meeting the demands raised by the community,” he said.
Urging political parties not to play politics on the reservation issue, another state minister from Kolhapur, Hasan Mushrif, said, “It is not the time to play politics. The Maratha community is not demanding reservation in politics. It is demanding reservation in education and jobs. What is wrong in this? The community has suffered for long and their demands are just and reasonable. We should all extend our support to the community’s fight for reservation by keeping politics out of it”.
Mushrif said the erstwhile Prithviraj Chavan-led government and its successor the Devendra Fadnavis-led government had both “made a mistake” while giving reservation to the Maratha community.
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“Because of the mistakes of the two governments, the reservation for the community was not upheld in the courts. First, our Congress-NCP government, instead of appointing a commission, appointed the Narayan Rane committee to look into the reservation demand of the community. That is why it was not upheld in the court. Subsequently, the Fadnavis government gave reservation to the Maratha community when the Centre had withdrawn powers of the state government to do so. The Supreme Court then quashed the reservation upheld by the Bombay high court on May 5. We should learn from these mistakes and come up with a strong and foolproof solution so that the Maratha community gets the reservation which it deserves. How long will we mislead the community,” he said.
Echoing the views of Patil, Mushrif said, “The government has stepped forward with a positive mindset to resolve the community’s grievances. Therefore, the Maratha community should also come forward and hold thorough discussion over their demands. I am sure a solution can be found.”
Shahu Maharaj Chhatrapati, who also addressed the gathering, urged the Maratha coordinators to take their demands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We should take our demand to the Prime Minister.. .Also, we should hold a dialogue with the chief minister,” he said.
Both Patil and Mushrif praised the Maratha community and Sambhajiraje for showing patience and holding a silent agitation. “The government appreciates the patience shown by the community,” they 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.
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