<p>Mumbai: Describing it as the “last agitation” and "last chance for government", <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/maratha">Maratha </a>reservation campaigner <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/manoj-jarange">Manoj Jarange-Patil </a>launched yet another fast-unto-death demanding the issuance of Kunbi certificates and implementation of the draft notification of the ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widens the scope of the quota.</p><p>This is the seventh hunger strike that Jarange-Patil is undertaking in the year 2023-24. </p><p>The hunger strike comes days before the announcement of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, which is expected around mid-November. </p><p>In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led Maha Yuti alliance suffered a dent in Maharashtra because of the Maratha reservation demand and the OBC resistance to it. </p>.Maharashtra Assembly polls | Tussle within Maha Yuti for seat-sharing intensifies; 'Solution in sight,' say leaders .<p>Jarange-Patil has stationed himself at his village Antarwali Sarathi in Ambad tehsil of Jalna district from where he began the agitation on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. </p><p>The agitation comes as a major challenge to the Eknath Shinde-headed Maha Yuti government.</p><p>“What Maratha community is asking…they are not giving,” Jarange-Patil said and lashed out at state’s deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of BJP and state’s food, civil supplies and consumer protection minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who is a veteran OBC leader. </p><p>“They both are casteist people,” he said, adding that if the Marathas do not get the reservation as described, he would make the government surrender. </p>.100 days of Modi 3.0: Centre has roadmap to resolve Manipur crisis, Census to begin soon, says Amit Shah .<p>Asked about his comments, Fadnavis said: “You are asking the wrong person.”</p><p>Last year, the government, in a massive exercise, went through Kunbi-Maratha and Maratha-Kunbi records and as per Jarange-Patil’s claims 57 lakh records have been found. Kunbis form a sub-caste of the Maratha and covered under OBCs - and thus the certificates would enable them to get reservation in jobs and education. </p><p>In February 2024, the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Bill, 2024, was passed in the state legislature, paving the way for 10 per cent reservation.</p><p>However, Jarange-Patil’s demand is to declare the Marathas as Kunbis and grant separate quotas from the OBCs, plus the formal notification of the ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widened the scope of the quota.</p><p>Soon after his latest agitation, Jarange-Patil asked the government to issue a GR and declare that</p><p>Kunbis and Marathas are the same - simplifying the issue. Besides, he also demanded that cases against the agitators must be withdrawn as assured by the government.</p><p>In a post on X, Jarange-Patil said: "This is the last agitation...this is the last chance for the government."</p>
<p>Mumbai: Describing it as the “last agitation” and "last chance for government", <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/maratha">Maratha </a>reservation campaigner <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/manoj-jarange">Manoj Jarange-Patil </a>launched yet another fast-unto-death demanding the issuance of Kunbi certificates and implementation of the draft notification of the ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widens the scope of the quota.</p><p>This is the seventh hunger strike that Jarange-Patil is undertaking in the year 2023-24. </p><p>The hunger strike comes days before the announcement of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, which is expected around mid-November. </p><p>In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led Maha Yuti alliance suffered a dent in Maharashtra because of the Maratha reservation demand and the OBC resistance to it. </p>.Maharashtra Assembly polls | Tussle within Maha Yuti for seat-sharing intensifies; 'Solution in sight,' say leaders .<p>Jarange-Patil has stationed himself at his village Antarwali Sarathi in Ambad tehsil of Jalna district from where he began the agitation on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. </p><p>The agitation comes as a major challenge to the Eknath Shinde-headed Maha Yuti government.</p><p>“What Maratha community is asking…they are not giving,” Jarange-Patil said and lashed out at state’s deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of BJP and state’s food, civil supplies and consumer protection minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who is a veteran OBC leader. </p><p>“They both are casteist people,” he said, adding that if the Marathas do not get the reservation as described, he would make the government surrender. </p>.100 days of Modi 3.0: Centre has roadmap to resolve Manipur crisis, Census to begin soon, says Amit Shah .<p>Asked about his comments, Fadnavis said: “You are asking the wrong person.”</p><p>Last year, the government, in a massive exercise, went through Kunbi-Maratha and Maratha-Kunbi records and as per Jarange-Patil’s claims 57 lakh records have been found. Kunbis form a sub-caste of the Maratha and covered under OBCs - and thus the certificates would enable them to get reservation in jobs and education. </p><p>In February 2024, the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Bill, 2024, was passed in the state legislature, paving the way for 10 per cent reservation.</p><p>However, Jarange-Patil’s demand is to declare the Marathas as Kunbis and grant separate quotas from the OBCs, plus the formal notification of the ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree', which widened the scope of the quota.</p><p>Soon after his latest agitation, Jarange-Patil asked the government to issue a GR and declare that</p><p>Kunbis and Marathas are the same - simplifying the issue. Besides, he also demanded that cases against the agitators must be withdrawn as assured by the government.</p><p>In a post on X, Jarange-Patil said: "This is the last agitation...this is the last chance for the government."</p>