‘Not even an hour extra after December 24’: Jarange calls meeting in Beed | Pune News
‘Not even an hour extra after December 24’: Jarange calls meeting in Beed | Pune News
Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Sunday said the state government should pass a law granting reservation for Marathas by December 24 or the community would launch an agitation, the decision of which will be taken at a meeting in Beed on December 23.
Addressing a gathering of people who congregated in Jalna’s Antarwali-Sarati on Sunday to decide the future course of the protest, Jarange-Patil said, “The government should pass a law on Maratha reservation by December 24. If not,…we will not give one extra hour and start our peaceful agitation.”
“…I have consulted the community which has asked me to take a call (on the way forward) on December 23. The Chief Minister will also speak to me tomorrow (Monday)… We will wait and see what the government does…,” the activist said.
“Minister Uday Samant phoned me this morning and said CM Ekanth Shinde will announce the government stand on reservation in the State Legislature on Monday. Hence, we decided to hold a meeting in Beed on December 23 and decide the future course of the agitation,” he said.
Jarange-Patil said minister Girish Mahajan met him on Saturday and urged him to extend the deadline. ”I told him there will be no further extension…This is the date which the government had given. The delegation, which met me when I was fasting, had promised that the government will provide quota by December 24,” he said.The activist reiterated his demand that the state government should provide reservation to all Marathas in the OBC category by giving them Kunbi certificates.
Besides the demand for reservation and passing of a law in the State Legislature, Jarange-Patil said the other demands of the community include those who have been proven guilty in Kopardi rape and murder case be hanged to death, 13,000 Marathas youths who qualified for government jobs be appointed and there should be no recruitment in government service till reservation is provided to Marathas.
Urging Marathas to gear up for holding a peaceful agitation, Jarange-Patil said, ”We should remain firmly united in our endeavour to get reservation…No one should take to violence. Our agitation should be peaceful. We will not withdraw our agitation till reservation is granted.”
Allaying the OBC community’s fear that the Maratha quota will impact their reservation, Jarange Patil said, “We are already in the OBC category. How can their quota get affected when we are already present in the OBC category?”
He also demanded that the government immediately resume giving Kunbi certificates. “The process has been put on hold in some places. I urge the government to resume the process of issuing Kunbi certificates to those people, whose records have been found,” said the activist.
