OBC activists’ counter-protest against Maratha activist continues in Maharashtra’s Jalna

OBC activists in Maharashtra's Marathwada region, led by Laxman Hake, protest to protect OBC reservation amid Maratha demands.

The ongoing protest by Other Backward Class members in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region to safeguard OBC reservation saw activist Laxman Hake remaining firm on his hunger strike even as his health deteriorated on June 17.

Mr. Hake’s sugar levels fell drastically today as he refused to budge from his fast despite government assurances that the OBC quota would not be affected by Maratha reservation demands.

While Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil has been hogging the limelight with his hunger strikes (his fourth ended recently) demanding inclusion of the Maratha community under the OBC Kunbi category, the OBC community has decided to aggressively counter it using similar methods with Mr. Hake, along with another OBC activist, sitting on a fast in the State’s Jalna district for the last five days.

In December last year, Mr. Hake, affiliated with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), had resigned from the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission after alleging that the panel was reportedly being subjected to a political agenda in order to expedite the Maratha reservation process at any cost.

This was the time when Jarange-Patil’s fasts, and his demands, had brought the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government to its knees. The Maratha quota agitation and the ‘Jarange-Patil’ factor has played a significant role in the defeat of candidates of the ruling coalition (of the BJP, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP) in several seats in the Marathwada region.

Even as Mr. Hake remained firm on his agitation in Jalna’s Ambad tehsil, Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde (from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction) said the Mahayuti government was not against reservation for anyone and that Mr. Hake’s demands for the safeguarding of the OBC quota will be kept before the government.

On June 17, Mr. Munde along with his cousin and BJP leader Pankaja Munde had met with Mr. Hake and Navnath Waghmare, who have been sitting on a fast since June 13 in Jalna — the same district where Manoj Jarange-Patil has been staging his hunger strikes.