Mumbai: After deliberations that continued overnight, Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil declared to withdraw his agitation on Saturday morning, stating that the state government has “not only accepted his demands but also issued relevant orders for implementation”. He added that he would not go to Mumbai now.
Patil, who is seeking reservation in education and jobs for the community under the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, had been fasting since Friday morning to press for a “government resolution” on the Maratha quota issue.
He had threatened to march towards Mumbai if the chief minister Eknath Shinde-led government did not issue orders to meet the demands by Saturday morning.
Shinde on Saturday morning met Patil in Navi Mumbai after accepting his demands. The chief minister offered a glass of juice, which Patil accepted and broke his fast. Shinde later handed over the orders to the Maratha activist in a rally at Shivaji Chowk, where they also together garlanded the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Patil praised CM Shinde for his efforts and announced to hold a grand rally to celebrate the victory, for which a date and place will be announced soon.
Expressing his satisfaction with the government’s response, he said, “Chief minister Eknath Shinde has done a good job. Our protest is now over. Our request has been accepted. We will accept the letter from him.”
The primary demand was the issuance of Kunbi certificates to approximately 5.4 million individuals, which has now been met by the state.
“We had demanded issuing Kunbi certificates to the blood relatives having Kunbi antecedents. An order to this effect has been issued,” he said showing the copy of the order in a presser held early in the morning.
“I have said that will go to Mumbai, but for us, this is also Mumbai. We have to hold a huge victory rally, bigger than the one held Antarwali Sarathi Jalna last year, for which a place and date will be declared soon,” he said, clarifying that he has scrapped his plan to come to Mumbai.
Before this, deliberations between senior government officials were held between the protesters overnight. Shinde, after holding meetings with officials to discuss demands, sent a delegation late Friday night with a draft ordinance addressing the concerns raised by the activist. The draft of the notification was studied by senior lawyers from the Maratha community.
Jarange-Patil started his march to Mumbai on January 20 demanding reservation for the Maratha community. He was expected to reach Mumbai on January 26 but after assurances by the government, he chose to stay at Vashi in Navi Mumbai, giving 24 hours to the Shinde-led government to issue relevant orders over his demands.
