The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, announced on Wednesday that an all-party meeting had concluded that reservation should be granted to the Maratha community without affecting the existing quotas of other communities in the state. Speaking in Mumbai, Shinde also urged activist Manoj Jarange, who has been on a hunger strike since October 25, to end his fast and give the government some time to address the issue.
Shinde stated, “It was unanimously decided at the all-party meeting that the state should make efforts to secure Maratha reservation without touching the existing quotas of other communities. I appeal to Manoj Jarange to withdraw his fast and cooperate with the government. The state needs time to prepare for the curative petition filed in the Supreme Court.”
The government is currently working on two fronts. Firstly, they are issuing Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas from Marathwada, enabling them to avail of OBC reservation. Secondly, they are preparing an error-free submission as part of the curative petition filed in the Supreme Court.
Shinde expressed disappointment over the recent violent incidents and emphasized that such acts would tarnish the Maratha community’s agitation for reservation. He stressed the need for the state government to prepare a submission that would pass the legal test.
“The state government is making sincere efforts to provide reservation benefits to the Maratha community. The backward class commission is working diligently. We want to avoid a situation where the reservation granted by the previous government was upheld by the Bombay High Court but later struck down by the Supreme Court due to errors,” Shinde added.
In his appeal to Jarange, the Chief Minister reassured him and the public, stating that the government’s efforts should not cause any safety concerns for the common man. He called for the support of the entire Maratha community in backing the state government’s actions.
