At OBC rally, Bhujbal attacks Jarange-Patil, backs police ‘lathicharge’ in Antarwali Saraati
Stating that the OBCs are not opposed to Maratha reservation, the minister says expansion of the OBC list should be done in a legal way and not through ‘dadagiri’.
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ACCUSING activist Manoj Jarange-Patil of forcibly trying to include Marathas in Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, Maharashtra minister and senior OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Friday warned that granting reservation to Marathas in the state would lead to a face-off between the Marathas on one side and OBCs, SCs, STs and Muslims on the other. He also said a caste census was the need of the hour in the country.
Bhujbal also backed the police action in Antarwali-Saraati village in Jalna district during Jarange-Patil’s fast-unto-death, while denouncing the violence that took place during the Maratha agitation. “The police were trying to take Jarange-Patil to the hospital after his condition deteriorated. But he refused. Soon there was heavy stone-pelting on the police. As many as 70 police personnel were injured. What is the police supposed to do in such a situation when they were being attacked,” asked Bhujbal at a rally of the OBC community at Ambad in Marathwada region’s Jalna district.
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OBC leaders from across the state’s political spectrum were in attendance at the rally where leader after leader spoke against the inclusion of Marathas under the OBC category.
The venue of the OBC rally was merely 20 km away from Antarwali-Saarati village, where Jarange-Patil had sat on fast-unto-death demanding Kunbi certificate for Marathas.
Bhujbal said though the police were not at fault, action was taken against them. “Go and ask the police personnel who were injured in the attack. You will come to know how brutally they were attacked. The police were attacked first but the government took action against them,” he claimed.
Bhujbal was referring to the alleged police assault in Antarwali-Saraati village on September 1 where scores of villagers and police personnel were injured.
During his 45-minute speech, as the crowd cheered him, Bhujbal made it clear that OBCs were not opposed to poor Marathas getting reservation but that should be done legally. “This is not the first rally. There will be rallies in all talukas and districts of Maharashtra,” he announced.
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Bhujbal alleged that after the lathicharge at Antarwali-Saraati, Jarange-Patil ran away and was hiding in his home. “But Rajesh Tope and Rohit Pawar brought him back to the stage and told him that Sharad Pawar would be visiting the place next day… But these two leaders did not tell Pawar saheb why the lathicharge actually took place,” he said.
“Nearly 70 police personnel were admitted to the hospital and women police personnel faced atrocities which should be investigated by state women’s commission. This man (Jarange-Patil) was hiding in the night and was brought to the stage again by Rajesh Tope and Rohit Pawar (both MLAs of opposition NCP) and these two leaders called Sharad Pawar to visit him. Had Pawar known the reality (of attack on police force), he would not have come to meet him (Jarange-Patil),” Bhujbal said.
Bhujbal also spoke about the violence in Beed, where the house of MLA Prakash Solanke was targeted by protesters. “His house, office, vehicles were torched. Petrol bomb was thrown… There were several groups who targeted the properties. They were given code numbers. The properties of Sandeep Shirsagar, Jaydutt Shirsagar and Subash Raut were also targeted. Petrol bombs were thrown at their homes where women and children were present,” he said.
Bhujbal said he had told Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that since he has full information about what happened at Antarwali-Saraati, he should place it before the people. “Fadnavis should have said that he will not tolerate the attack on police personnel. He should have placed this fact before the state and the country. Instead, police personnel were suspended, the Home Minister was made to apologise… He was forced to say that he will withdraw cases against the agitators… How much appeasement will be done,” he asked.
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Stating that OBCs were not opposed to reservation to Maratha community, Bhujbal said, “Earlier there were 250 castes in OBC category. Now there are around 375 castes in OBC category. We have never opposed the entry of any caste but it should happen legally and not through ‘dadagiri’. Reservation to Maratha community should be given without affecting the quota of other OBCs.”
Opposing the “gaon bandhi” or ban announced by Jarange-Patil on the entry of political leaders in villages, Bhujbal said, “Has Maharashtra been handed over to you through mention on the 7X12 land record ? …All such posters announcing ban should be torn down.”
Calling for caste-based census, Bhujbal said, “If there is a demand from all corners for caste-based census, then why is it not being carried out.”
He said it was Sharad Pawar who as chief minister started implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations. “V P Singh was the Prime Minister then. He accepted the Mandal Commission report. As per the commission’s report, OBCs got 27 per cent reservation,” he pointed out.
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Several OBC leaders including Vijay Wadettiwar of the Congress, Gopichand Padalkarof the BJP, Babanrao Tayawade and Prakash Shendge also spoke at the rally and attacked Jarange-Patil.
Addressing the rally, Vijay Wadettiwar, who is the state Opposition leader, said, “This is a historic rally and after the rally, no one will dare to touch the OBC quota. Our position is not important for us, our community matters for us. We are ready to put up a fight for our community’s sake.”
“Around 350 castes which are in OBC category have been losing their land holdings over the years. He (Jarange-Patil) is repeatedly saying that children of Maratha community have remained poor. Their (Marathas) land holding might have become smaller but imagine the plight of those who did not have land for generations. Those who had 20-25 acre land are now hardly left with anything. You (Marathas) call yourself big brother, then big brother should behave likewise. He should not try to snatch anything from the plate of his younger brother. Otherwise, we will show you your place,” he added.
“We all can meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and request him to conduct a caste-based census. Then you will understand who has more population and who gets more share,” 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.
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