OBC yatra participants criticise govt for pampering Marathas | Mumbai News

WADIGODRI/ BEED/MUMBAI: Just four kilometres away from Antarwali Sarati, the site of Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil’s latest indefinite hunger strike, is Wadigodri, the village where OBC activists Laxman Hake and Nagnath Waghmare on Monday began their ‘OBC Arakshan Bachav Jan Akrosh Yatra’. The seven-day march for the ‘protection’ of OBC quota will cross several tehsils in three districts of Maragawada in the first phase.

On the first day of the yatra, activists called Chief Minister Eknath Shinde biased and casteist and asked him to clarify how the OBC reservation quota would not be affected by bringing Marathas under his umbrella. They also criticized the Opposition for not clarifying its stand on the issue. Hake and Waghmare had been on an indefinite strike last month and backed out only after a delegation from the state government assured them that they would discuss the reservation issue at an all-party meeting.

The yatra began with participants paying their respects at the Mandal Plaque (mandal stambh) in Wadigodri. From there, they proceeded to other villages including Georai, Baug Pimpalgaon, Shahagad and Umapur, culminating in a rally at Chaklamba in Beed. The yatra and rallies will be held in various other villages and tehsils in Beed, Parbhani and Ahmednagar over the next seven days.

Hake, after starting the yatra, criticized the government for pampering Marathas and “ignoring” OBCs. “BJP leader Pravin Darekar said on Sunday that the government ₹4,500 for various cash benefit schemes for Marathas,” he said. “Why is this government money being spent on them while other communities, including OBCs, are not getting their share? Who gave the government the right to divert the social security funds of other communities to Marathas? We demand a white paper on this.”

Hake raised the issue of the controversial sage soyare notification to issue Kunbi certificates to all Marathas, terming it unconstitutional and illegal. “OBCs are being asked to collect documents from the 1960s for caste certificate, while Marathas are being given Kunbi certificates on a silver platter,” he said, adding that the sage soyare notification would not only affect OBC reservation but also that of SC/STs.

Hake also did not spare the opposition for its alleged lack of response. “There has been social unrest in the state for eight months but NCP founder Sharad Pawar has not responded even after OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal met him with a request for intervention,” he said. “On the contrary, he spoke the language of Jarange-Patil, who say Marathas and Dhangars are the same. Even Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and state Congress leaders should be honest about their stand on OBC reservation.”

The OBC activist also criticised Jarange-Patil for saying that Marathas were deprived of their rights for 70 years because of OBC reservation. “OBC reservation came in the early 1990s and that too is just a budgetary allocation of 1%. Jarange-Patil has been pampered by the state government and the CM. In fact, the state government should launch Ladka Andolak (favourite activist) programme on the lines of other programmes for him,” he quipped.

Waghmare, addressing the rally in Chaklamba, wondered why the area (Georai) had only Maratha MLAs for years. “It is time to oppose Marathas,” he said. “OBCs should stop going to sugar mills run by Marathas and go to other states to cut sugarcane. Marathas want OBC reservation because they are eyeing the political quota.”

Waghmare also criticised former BJP MP Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, who was at the forefront of “targeting Muslims by taking part in the demolition of structures in Vishalgad”. “He does not deserve our respect,” he said. “He should not be called ‘Raje’.”