Baramati MP and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Supriya Sule rubbished claims made in a caste certificate showing NCP chief Sharad Pawar as belonging to the other backward classes (OBC) category. Calling this certificate fake, the NCP leader claimed that it is a conspiracy to defame the veteran politician.
Sule said, "This is someone's childishness. When Sharad Pawar was studying in class 10, were there English medium schools? People should think about that." The alleged OBC certificate in the name of Pawar is being shared after he backed the calls for Maratha reservation. The certificate describes the NCP supremo as belonging to the OBC Kunbi class.
Supriya Sule, however, is not the only one to defend Pawar as his supporter Vikas Pasalkar also rubbished the claims that the NCP chief belonged to the OBC category.
Pasalkar also produced a certificate that showed Pawar as belonging to the Maratha caste. "A conspiracy is being hatched to defame a big leader like Sharad Pawar, using such fake certificates. The NCP will not tolerate this," he told India Today TV.
The leaving certificate that Pasalkar shared indicates that Pawar is from the Late Gajananrao Bhivrao Deshpande Secondary and Higher Secondary School in Pune's Baramati district. It also showed that Pawar passed the SSC Exam in March 1958.
The Maratha reservation issue has led to violence across parts of Maharashtra, with widespread protests across the state. The protestors have demanding reservations in government jobs and education.
Earlier this month, Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil agreed to end his indefinite fast after a delegation of retired high court judges Sandeep Shinde, MG Gaikwad and others met him on Thursday.
Jarange appealed to the Eknath Shinde-led state government to not carry out recruitment till reservations are allotted to Marathas. He said that the government needs to resolve the issue in at least two months as they need to work across Maharashtra.
"If they break their promise, then we will stop them everywhere. We will head towards Mumbai. We will stop their social, economic and political work. We will not provide farm produce like vegetables, milk and other things," he said at the time.
During the discussion with the delegation of retired judges, Jarange demanded 'fool proof reservation' and asked the state government to give them their "word" on it. The activist also demanded that the government should deploy teams for the survey of the economic and social backwardness of the Maratha community.
(With India Today inputs)