Mumbai, Aug 31 (PTI) Activist Manoj Jarange on Sunday asserted he will not leave Mumbai until his demand for reservation to the Maratha community is met, as his hunger strike entered the third day.
He also
claimed his demand was constitutionally valid and that the government has records showing Kunbis and Marathas are the same caste.
A large number of agitators were present at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) impacting traffic in the area and nearby junctions, according to police.
"As the Agitation at Azad Maidan still continues, agitators are present at CSMT Junction Impacting traffic in the area and near by junctions. Motorist are advised to avoid these route and take alternate route to reach their destination," the Mumbai Traffic Police said on their X handle.
Jarange said people from the Maratha community have come to Mumbai to participate in the agitation with a lot of pain in their hearts and urged Maharashtra government not to consider them as a "crowd".
The 43-year-old activist has been staging an indefinite hunger strike at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai from Friday to press for the reservation.
He has been demanding a 10 per cent quota for Marathas and wants them to be recognised as Kunbis -- an agrarian caste included in the Other Backward Classes category -- which will make them eligible for reservation in government jobs and education, though OBC leaders are opposed to it.
"From tomorrow, I will stop taking water as the government is not accepting the demands. But I am not going back till the quota demand is met. We will get Marathas reservation under the OBC category no matter what," Jarange asserted.
"Our demand is constitutionally valid. The government has records of 58 lakh Marathas as Kunbis. Marathas will come to Mumbai (for the agitation) as and when they get time," he said.
Jarange asked his supporters to keep their vehicles at designated parking slots and come to Azad Maidan by train.
"The government shouldn't consider them as crowd. They have come here with a lot of pain," he said.
The activist said food, from supply trucks, should be distributed to the protesters at Vashi, Chembur, Sewri, Masjid Bunder and other places wherever they are parking their vehicles and they should then come to Azad Maidan.
He also said his supporters should not pay money to those distributing umbrellas and raincoats to them.
Notably, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should be asked why the Maratha reservation issue has reared its head again as Shinde had resolved it last time.
In January last year, Jarange's march to Mumbai had stopped at Vashi in Navi Mumbai following a request by the then government headed by Shiv Sena leader Shinde who assured that quota demands would be met.
Asked about Raj Thackeray's comments, Jarange said the "Thackeray brand" is good and that both brothers (Raj and Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray) are good.
But he (Raj) is a person who can easily believe what others say, the activist claimed. Fadnavis ensured his son's (Amit Thackeray) defeat in the state assembly polls last year, he pointed out.
The Maratha leader on Saturday slammed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for sending retired High Court judge Sandeep Shinde, who heads a committee set up to scrutinise Kunbi records of the Maratha community, to hold talks with him.
"It is not Justice Shinde's job to issue a Government Resolution (GR) announcing grant of reservation to Marathas," Jarange said on Saturday, vowing to continue the agitation.
Fadnavis has said the government was trying to find a solution within the constitutional and legal framework.
The BJP-led government on Saturday deputed a delegation led by Justice Shinde to hold talks with Jarange, as thousands of his supporters who have arrived in the city thronged the nearby Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and the surrounding area.
The activist, who had launched a hunger strike on seven occasions in the past, has claimed this is the community's "final fight".
As the delegation met him on Saturday, Jarange said the committee headed by Justice Shinde studied gazettes related to the issue for the past 13 months and now it was time for it to submit its report to pave the way for Marathas to get Kunbi status.
"Marathas in Marathwada must be declared as Kunbis and given reservation. The Hyderabad and Satara gazettes must be made into law for this," Jarange said. PTI MR DC GK
