Maratha vs OBC face-off: Hake insists ‘Kunbi’ and ‘Maratha’ are different
Jarange-Patil warns Shinde govt. against going back on promises made to Marathas
The bitter feuding between other backward class (OBC) activist Laxman Hake and Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil continued unabated on June 23 with Mr. Hake stating that the ‘Kunbi’ and ‘Maratha’ categories were completely different and that the latter could not get reservation under the Kunbi OBC category as was being insisted by the Maratha quota activist.
Mr. Jarange-Patil again issued a veiled threat to the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government that it would prove costly for the ruling coalition in the coming Maharashtra Assembly election if it went back on its assurances for Maratha quota by bowing to pressure from OBC community leaders.
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Mr. Jarange-Patil, while stridently opposing Mr. Hake, even batted for Muslims to get reservation under the OBC category if government records proving they were Kunbi had been found.
Mr. Hake (as well as other OBC leaders and activists) have alleged that the OBC certificates being issued to Maratha community members whose family records proved them to have been Kunbis were “bogus”.
Blood relatives
Mr. Hake, who on Saturday called off his hunger fast, has demanded the Shinde government to come clear on its proposed implementation of the draft notification pertaining to blood relatives (translated as ‘sage soyare’ in Marathi) of those Marathas for whom Kunbi OBC records had been found — a major bone of contention in the OBC versus Maratha standoff.
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“If Manoj Jarange-Patil wants to make any logical argument, he should come and debate with me with a team of advisers who have properly studied this matter. He should stop making baseless demands and threats,” said the OBC activist, whose 10-day agitation to safeguard the OBC reservation pie met with steady support from OBC leaders across the political spectrum including the BJP’s Pankaja Munde, her cousin, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s Dhananjay Munde, Congressman Vijay Wadettiwar and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar among others.
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In a riposte to Mr. Hake, Mr. Jarange-Patil questioned that just because one person from the OBC community had launched an agitation, would the Mahayuti government go back on its promises made to the Maratha community?
“This government has to implement the draft notification pertaining to blood relatives [‘sage soyare’] of those Marathas for whom Kunbi OBC records have been found. I hope the Chief Minister does not go back on his word and remembers the promise he had made to us on this count. If they do not heed to our demands, then it will be costly for this government in the coming Assembly election,” he warned.
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