Jalna (Maharashtra), July 22 In apparent counter to the hunger strike launched by Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil for Maratha quotas, the OBCs’ resistance groups led by Laxman Hake launched its own awareness march to ensure the community’s quotas are not diluted, here on Monday.
Prof Hake along with a large number of followers, started the ‘Arakshan Bachao OBC Jan Akrosh Yatra’ march from Ambad village in Jalna, carrying banners, and posters while raising slogans.
This will come barely three days before the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) President Prakash Ambedkar and his team launch a separate ‘Save Reservations Yatra’ on July 25, starting from Mumbai, going to Pune, Kolhapur, and after passing several districts terminate in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
The OBCs’ procession will traverse through several districts including Ahmednagar, Parbhani, Beed, Hingoli, Washim, Buldhana, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinar with hundreds of OBC members likely to join en route.
It may be recalled that from July 20, Jarange-Patil launched his 6th indefinite hunger strike in a year from his native Antarwali-Sarati village (Jalna) and has threatened to announce his next phase of the programme in August if the state government doesn’t concede to the demands of the Marathas.
The demands comprise the inclusion of reservation for Marathas as ‘Kunbis’ a sub-caste under the OBC category, giving OBC Kunbi certificates to those who seek it, and a formal notification for the ‘sage-soyare’ (bloodline) which would entire more people to get reservation.
Visibly irked by the OBCs’ march today, Jarange-Patil warned that he would launch an agitation outside the Nashik (Yeola) home of Nationalist Congress Party Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, and also contest all the 288 seats in the October Assembly elections while slamming both the government and opposition parties for letting them down despite giving assurances.
“We have no hope from the ruling MahaYuti or the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi. We shall work to defeat all their candidates who have worked against the interests of the Marathas, and also put up our nominees for elections in all the 288 seats,” Jarange-Patil said on July 20 in what was construed as a shift of gear from a limited social cause to a larger political platform.
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