Maharashtra: 80 lakh women found ineligible for Ladki Bahin scheme
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Maratha reservation quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Tuesday declined Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s request to postpone his march to Mumbai with Maratha supporters and sit on an indefinite fast on Friday, August 29, at Azad Maidan during the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.
Rajendra Sable Patil, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister, met Jarange at Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna district on Tuesday. He requested him to postpone the Maratha march and share the route protesters would take to reach Mumbai, but Jarange-Patil did not yield.
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“Earlier on Tuesday, I spoke to Manoj Jarange over the phone and called on him to ask the route he is taking to reach Mumbai. I requested him to postpone the agitation since Ganeshotsav begins on Wednesday (August 27),” Rajendra Sable Patil told media persons.
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However, Jarange-Patil, who has been leading the campaign demanding that all Marathas be recognised as Kunbis, an agrarian caste included in the OBC category, said, “We waited for two years. BJP MLA Suresh Dhas had visited me during my previous hunger strike and sought three months to decide on the reservation issue. If the government grants OBC reservation to Marathas, we will become friends with Devendra Fadnavis. We won’t travel to Mumbai if we get the reservation; otherwise, we will go. The demonstration will be peaceful.”
Meanwhile, responding to a PIL filed by the Amy Foundation challenging the Maratha agitation, the Bombay High Court said on Tuesday that Jarange-Patil cannot hold a protest without prior permission from authorities, citing the law and order situation in Mumbai during the Ganesh festival celebrations.
A Bombay High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep Marne said that while democracy and dissent go hand in hand, demonstrations should be held only at designated places.
The Bombay High Court bench said the government could take a call on whether to offer an alternative venue at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai to the respondent (Jarange-Patil) to hold a peaceful protest.
“The respondents (Jarange and his associates) are at liberty to file an application seeking such permission from the concerned authorities,” the Bombay High Court bench said, adding it would then be open for the state government to decide about granting permission for the protest, as per provisions of the law.
The Bombay High Court also issued a notice to Jarange-Patil seeking his response to the PIL and posted the matter for further hearing on September 9.
Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed hope that Jarange-Patil would not do anything to disturb the Ganesh festival celebrations in Mumbai.
“Those who call themselves true followers of (Maratha king) Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj will not do anything to disturb Ganesh Chaturthi, which is the biggest festival of Hindus. Everyone knows we have worked for the upliftment of the Maratha community and given a 10 per cent reservation quota. We created 1.5 lakh businesspersons from the community,” Fadnavis told media persons.
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