Shiv Sena (UBT) has praised Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for successfully handling the five-day fast organised by pro-Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil demanding reservation of Marathas under the OBC quota.
The party also attributed Jarange-Patil for coming to terms with the state government following extensive negotiations, which ended his fast.
In its editorial in the party’s mouthpiece Saamana, the Thackeray camp stated: “The credit for the Maratha reservation struggle goes to the Chief Minister of the state as much as to Jarange-Patil. The Chief Minister has found a solution, and the agitation has come to a sweet end."
The Shiv Sena (UBT) decision to endorse CM Fadnavis has set the political circles abuzz, considering that the party has frequently criticized the CM over many issues.
“The Jarange-Patil came to Mumbai and staged a hunger strike and protest on the issue of Maratha reservation. He has been successful in his fight. On the other hand, CM Fadnavis handled the Maratha agitation in a restrained manner. It has to be admitted that the chief minister did not waver even when he was being showered with insults from all sides, and in the end, he accepted all the demands that were possible for the government to act upon, paving the way for Jarange-Patil and thousands of his supporters to return to their villages," said the editorial.
“Jarange-Patil risked his life for the Maratha reservation. Jarange-Patil is certainly a good man. If he had not taken the tough stand, the Maratha community would not have achieved anything. Therefore, the credit of Jarange-Patil in this fight is valuable, but it is also of the chief minister who found the solution and resolved the stalemate,” it said.
The party said in Saamana, "After the High Court gave Jarange-Patil a deadline to leave Mumbai, no one was left with anything. If Jarange-Patil’s supporters had tried to resist, it would have been a contempt of the High Court, and another legal mess would have been created. Therefore, CM Fadnavis rushed in and accepted most of the demands of the protesters. The Chief Minister is ultimately the government. No matter how powerful the ministers are, the government runs on his orders.”
The editorial made it clear that this recognition does not belittle the contributions of other leaders like Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar. "However, while terming Dy CM Shinde a good person, Jarange-Patal earlier had also used extremely inflammatory words for CM Fadnavis. In all these cases, the chief minister became the target of criticism and the bad people became 'good'. This is incomprehensible.” it added.
Describing the background, the Thackeray faction explained that the Maratha reservation movement attempts to get education and government employment quotas for the Maratha community as Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC). The objective is either inclusion among the OBC category or a distinct quota. The demand has a history dating back to the 1980s with late Annasaheb Patil, while the first Mumbai march was organized in 1982. Local-level activism started in 1997, and the issue received patronage from leaders such as Sharad Pawar and Vilasrao Deshmukh in 2008-09.
As per the party, the majority of the Maratha community is based on agriculture, and economic distress and farmer suicides at a reported 94% among Maratha farmers are the rationale for the demand for reservation. Under-representation in education and government service has been pointed out by pro-Maratha quota activists, stating that slow development in areas such as Marathwada and Vidarbha means that youths have few prospects except government jobs.
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