Mumbai, Aug 30 (IANS) The Mumbai police, on Saturday, extended permission by a day up to Sunday to pro-Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil for his protest in Azad Maidan here, officials said on Saturday.
The police sources said, “Permission has been granted to continue the protest till Sunday. The Mumbai police had received an application from Manoj Jarange-Patil and accordingly the permission has been extended by another day upto Sunday.”
The police had initially granted permission to Jarange-Patil for his protest on Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with few conditions.
Later, on Friday evening, the police based on Jarange-Patil’s request extended the permission by a day up to Saturday.
The police, on Saturday, have extended permission to the pro-Maratha quota activist till Sunday.
Jarange-Patil on Friday had said that the police permission for a day was not acceptable terming it a “joke”.
He thereafter announced that he would hold an indefinite fast at the Azad Maidan until the Maharashtra government implements reservation to Marathas, which will sustain and pass the test of law.
He has been demanding reservation to the Maratha community from the OBC quota.
However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde have separately expressed that the Maratha community cannot be given reservation from the OBC quota but announced that the state government is making efforts to provide whatever is possible within the framework of the Constitution.
Earlier, Jarange-Patil after his meeting with the government delegation comprising Justice Sandeep Shinde and others, on Saturday, insisted that the state government must declare all Marathas of Marathwada as Kunbis and they should be given reservation.
“Marathas in Marathwada must be declared as Kunbis and given reservation. The Hyderabad and Satara gazettes must be made into law for this,” Jarange-Patil said.
The pro-Maratha quota activist refused to withdraw his hunger strike.
He said, “The government should have come for the discussion. But the government is unnecessarily harassing the Shinde Committee, pushing them forward. We have told them that the Marathas and Kunbis in Marathwada are one and the same. The documents of the Satara and Hyderabad States say the same.”
He also added, “We have requested that the cases against the protesters which were registered during the agitation for Maratha reservation be withdrawn. Our demand is that the family members of those who sacrificed their lives in the agitation should be given government jobs and financial assistance.”
“We have told the government that it has been proven that Marathas and Kunbis in Marathwada and western Maharashtra are one. Implement it. They are saying that we will call a meeting of the state Cabinet. But, we had given 13 months for all this. I have told them to issue a government notification that Marathas and Kunbis are one and I will immediately withdraw the agitation. Immediately implement the gazetteer of Satara and Hyderabad states, we will not give even a minute for it. But, we will give two months for the gazetteer of Aundh and Bombay government,” he declared.
Chief Minister Fadnavis said that the state government is making efforts to find a way out on the issue of Maratha reservation within the framework of the Constitution.
He also added that the state government is trying to take decisions that will be within the framework of the Constitution and not to merely please someone that will have a backlash in future.
Chief Minister Fadnavis told reporters, “The government’s position has been clear from day one. From 2014 to 2025, all the decisions in the interest of the Maratha community have been taken by our government. Even before that, not much happened and now our government is taking decisions again. These are decisions taken by me and Eknath Shinde. I gave reservation first, then we gave it during Eknath Shinde’s time. After that, the state government strengthened the Annasaheb Patil Economic Development Corporation so much that we have created one and a half lakh entrepreneurs. We have been able to create Maratha youth who are not job seekers but job providers.”
–IANS
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