After declaring that the Maharashtra government has accepted his demands, activist Manoj Jarange, who was on a five-day hunger strike demanding the Maratha quota, said he won. He said the cabinet has accepted most of the demands, including issuing Kunbi caste certificates to the eligible beneficiaries. This will ensure that the Maratha community members will be able to get the OBC quota, which was Jarange’s major demand. The High Court earlier asked him to leave the Azad Maidan over the protest without permission, and now Jarange has announced that if the government passes a resolution, he would leave the ground before 9 pm on Tuesday.
The protests have disrupted traffic in India’s financial capital. The court, however, decided to uphold the law and permitted Jarange to continue the protest till Wednesday morning when Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil visited him at the venue. The development has been achieved after a four-day protest by Jarange and his supporters from different parts of Maharashtra, asking for a 10 per cent quota for Marathas in the OBC reservation category.
A major commotion was caused by more than a hundred protesters, after which the High Court stepped in and warned them, saying that the protest had “literally paralysed” Mumbai.
The cabinet has now accepted the implementation of the Hyderabad Gazetteer and also informed the protesters that a government resolution will be released soon. Officials also said that the Satara Gazetteer will be implemented within a month. Mr. Jarange’s announcement gave a reason for celebration to the protestors, and he also said that the complaints filed against the protesters will also be taken back. Jarange informed his supporters that the families of the people who have lost their lives in the protest will be provided government jobs, and the government informed him of 15 crore assistance to the families of the deceased.
Bus operations from the Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, which were suspended due to the protests, have also been resumed, giving a major relief to the locals in Mumbai.
