Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said that the state government was in favour of Maratha community reservation. Shinde, who was heading the all-party meeting to discuss the intensifying Maratha quota agitation, passed a resolution asking activist Manoj Jarange to call off his indefinite fast. He added that Jarange should cooperate with the government in ensuring quota for the Maratha community.
Shinde said: "In the all-party meeting, everyone agreed that the Maratha community should get reservation...It was decided the reservation should be within the framework of the law and without doing injustice to other communities."
Jarange-Patil, the Maratha quota activist, had earlier threatened to stop drinking water from Wednesday evening if the 'complete' quota was not granted to the Maratha community. He was displeased by the state cabinet's earlier decision to grant Kunbi caste certificates to the Marathas in the Marathwada region.
Jarange-Patil had earlier said that a special session in the state assembly should be orgainsed and Maratha reservation should be declared. "If this is not done, I will quit drinking water from Wednesday evening. The agitation will not stop and will continue peacefully," Jarange-Patil said.
The resolution was signed by Maha CM Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, NCP president Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Vijay Wadettiwar, LoP in the legislative council Ambadas Danve, among others.
The Maharashtra government published an order on Tuesday asking officials to issue fresh Kunbi caste certificates to eligible Maratha community members, paving the way for them to avail reservation benefits under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
A government resolution issued stated that the officials to translate old documents having references to Kunbis and written in Urdu and 'Modi' script (which was used to write Marathi language in earlier times). These documents are to be digitised, attested, and then put in the public domain.
Jarange, who is on an indefinite fast at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, on Tuesday said the Maratha community will not accept an "incomplete reservation" and the Maharashtra government should call a special session of the state legislature on the issue.