Maratha Reservation: Jarange Patil withdraws hunger strike; extends deadline till January 2, 2024

By: Pune Pulse

November 3, 2023

Pune : Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has appreciated Manoj Jarange Patil, his colleagues as well as the entire Maratha community for announcing that he has called off his hunger strike on November 2. However, Manoj Jarange Patil has given a deadline of 2 months i.e. January 2, 2024, to the state government to find an appropriate & suitable solution.

As per information from a press release by the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Office, the Chief Minister also said that it would be the first time in history that a lawyer would go to the place of a hunger strike to resolve a hunger strike. The Chief Minister also said that the government will take serious steps to provide reservation to the Maratha community which is tenable in court and within the framework of law.

Keeping in mind the upcoming Diwali and the examination of the students, the CM appeals to all the agitators to withdraw their agitations now.

The Chief Minister also said that instructions will be given to all the collectors and the administration to speed up the process of issuing certificates to the Maratha community by checking the Kunbi records across the state and teams of officers and employees will be formed specially for this purpose.

CM further said that Justice Maroti Gaikwad, Justice Sunil Shukre, lawyer Himanshu Sachdev and other legal experts were in the delegation that met Manoj Jarange Patil. Moreover, Sandipan Bhumre, Dhananjay Munde, Atul Save, Uday Samant, Bachu Kadu, and Narayan Kuche were also present.

The Chief Minister further said that he told Patil that the government is committed to providing lasting reservation within the framework of the law. They have started issuing certificates immediately by checking Kunbi records where they are found. It is a big deal that 13,514 records have been found to date. The Justice Shinde committee worked day and night. Hence, the CM, as well as Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, had decided that this issue should be resolved through discussion and dialogue.

The Chief Minister said that the Justice Shinde Committee will be empowered. Manpower will be provided. The system will be expanded. The implementation of issuing Kunbi certificates will be speeded up. As a government, they will not cheat any community. Injustice will not be allowed to happen to other communities as well.

They are also working on the curative petition in the Supreme Court. Taking into consideration the observations made by the Supreme Court earlier while cancelling the Maratha reservation, the committee of judges constituted by the state government on Thursday is guiding the government and the commission. The task of seeing how the Maratha society is backward will be done through the Backward Classes Commission. He also said that the government will work very seriously to provide lasting reservation to the Maratha community within the framework of the law.

Shreyas Vange