Mahayuti govt faces fresh quota heat as OBC, Maratha tension flares before polls

Hake, who is a former member of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission, told media persons Friday: “We have a CM in Eknath Shinde whose sole concern is to shower all benefits to Marathas. He has absolutely nothing to do with OBC issues… On what basis has he accepted that Marathas are socially oppressed?”

He went on to add that in “such a situation”, the “only way forward for OBCs was to unite, rise above party lines, and ensure their adequate representation in the Assembly polls.”

OBC Jan Manch president Prakash Shendge said OBCs have “shown restraint” till now but “would raise voice if the government overlooked their concerns”.

These comments came after Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil started another indefinite hunger strike at Antarwali Sarathi in Jalna district on Monday. This is his sixth hunger strike since August 2023 over his demand for reservation for Marathas under the OBC category.

The OBC activists say the Maratha reservation, if given from the OBC category, would cut into its quota pie.

Responding to Patil, Shinde, the Shiv Sena president and a Maratha leader, reassured him that the government would look into his demand.

Subsequently, Shinde even set the ball rolling by writing a letter to the Telangana government on Thursday, seeking relevant caste documents that could establish whether Marathas were kunbis — a term used to categorise a socially backward community — in the erstwhile Hyderabad state that also included parts of Maharashtra.

Confirming the development, Maharashtra minister Sambhuraje Desai, who handles the excise portfolio, said Friday: “The government has written a letter to the Telangana government seeking certified copies of Hyderabad gazette. We are pressing for certified copies to equip ourselves with authentic documents which can withstand legal scrutiny.”

Since the beginning of Patil’s agitation, the CM has been consistent that the Maratha reservation demand would be fulfilled.

In February 2024, the Maharashtra Assembly unanimously passed a Bill granting 10% reservation in education and jobs to the Maratha community. The Bill was drafted on the basis of a Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission report that identified the Marathas as socially and educationally backward.

However, the Bill has been challenged in the Bombay High Court through a public interest litigation.

Patil has been critical of the Bill and has remained steadfast in his demand for the Maratha reservation under the OBC category. Turning up the heat on Deputy CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis again, Patil even appealed to his followers to “defeat BJP candidates” in the Assembly polls.

The Shinde-led Mahayuti government’s bid to start the administrative process for determining Maratha reservation is being seen as a way of controlling any damage that might arise out of alienating Marathas, said to be 33% of Maharashtra’s population, ahead of the polls.

Sources in the BJP, which has not made its stand on the Maratha reservation clear, have said Patil’s comments on Fadnavis could splinter the Maratha vote. However, they claimed that since Marathas have been a traditional support base of the Congress and the erstwhile undivided Shiv Sena, they are not too worried about the fallout.

A BJP source said, “Union minister Bhupendra Yadav, who is the BJP incharge of Maharashtra, as well as Fadnavis are strategising how to consolidate OBC votes. Out of 360 sub-communities or groups that belong to OBCs, meetings have been held with 160. They are leaving no stone unturned to reach out to every OBC segment.”

Meanwhile, another OBC community’s demand is also gaining momentum.

The Dhangar community, which accounts for 9% of the state’s population, has been looking to seek reservation under the ST category. Though promised by the then BJP government led by Fadnavis in 2014, this demand still remains on paper. BJP MLC Gopichand Padalkar, who is from the Dhangar community, has threatened protests while raking up this demand.