This is an archive article published on June 16, 2024
OBC community threatens to hold fast if ‘sage-soyare’ demand is accepted by Maharashtra govt
Urging the government to ensure that OBC quota does not get affected, Shendge said,''If there is any move which affects the OBC quota, then all of Maharashtra will feel the heat. We will hold fasts across the state to register our protest.''
Shendge warned that those who oppose OBC reservation and those who support ''sage soyare'' notification will face the consequences. ''We will ensure the defeat of such people who support 'sage soyare' notification,'' he said. (Facebook/Prakash Shendge)
Even as Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil has given a one-month deadline to the state government to issue final notification regarding the ”sage soyare” (close relatives) demand and start its implementation, the OBC community has threatened to hold fasts across the state if the state government goes ahead with it.
”The government should withdraw the draft notification on sage soyare’ issued by it. It should stop the Kunbi certificates. It should take action against those attacking members of the OBC community,” Prakash Shendge of the OBC Mahasangh, told reporters in Jalna today.
Shendge clarified that they were not against Marathas’s demand for reservation. ”In fact, we supported the government’s decision to give them a 10 per cent quota. But now they are seeking Kunbi certificates under ‘sage soyare’ law which is not acceptable to us. This will deprive the existing OBC community of their quota,” he said.
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On June 13, Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil withdrew his fast after a government delegation promised to meet the community’s demand. Jarange-Patil had, among other things, demanded implementation of the draft notification which will benefit relatives of the Marathas who have received Kunbi certificates.
Urging the government to ensure that OBC quota does not get affected, Shendge said,”If there is any move which affects the OBC quota, then all of Maharashtra will feel the heat. We will hold fasts across the state to register our protest.”
Shendge warned that those who oppose OBC reservation and those who support ”sage soyare” notification will face the consequences. ”We will ensure the defeat of such people who support ‘sage soyare’ notification,” he said.
Criticising the state government as well as the opposition parties, Shendge said,”Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Ministers besides Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray have said that OBC reservation will not be affected….But Jarange-Patil is claiming that 80 per cent Marathas have entered OBC quota,” he said.
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Shendge said when Jarange-Patil held a fast, ministers made a beeline to Jalna to persuade him to withdraw it. ”But when OBC community holds fast, not a single minister turns out..”
Shendge today visited Wadigodri village in Jana where OBC leader Laxman Hake and another activist Navnath Waghmare have been holding fast for the last four days. ”I will withdraw my fast only when the state government gives in writing that it will not touch the OBC quota,” Hake told reporters.
”The chief minister called today and promised that OBC reservation will not be affected…He should tell the same to the entirety of Maharashtra. If the state government is issuing Kunbi caste certificates, then how will the OBC quota remain intact?, he asked.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Aurangabad today, Jarange-Patil who is recuperating in a private hospital, said, ”I withdrew my fast only when the government promised to implement its notification regarding ‘sage soyare’. The government also promised to pass a law regarding Maratha-Kunbi being one. It has also promised to withdraw cases against Maratha agitators. If the government does not fulfil our demands by July 13, we will defeat the candidates of the ruling parties in the ensuing assembly elections,” he reiterated.
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A clutch of newly-elected MPs have met Jarange-Patil after he withdrew his fast. On Sunday, Nilesh Lanke, the newly-elected MP from Ahmednagar met the activist. ”We will be closely watching who is coming and who is not,” said Jarange-Patil.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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