'Blanket Reservation For Marathas Never Our Agenda, Jarange Misguiding Community For Personal Gain': Maratha Activist Chavan

The Maratha community’s demand for inclusion in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category continues to exert pressure on Maharashtra's politics.

Ever since the onset of the agitation in September 2023, under the leadership of community activist Manoj Jarange, many of his associates have parted ways, alleging that the agitation has gone off track owing to the leader’s political ambitions.

A recent dissident from the Maratha Kranti Morcha, a community organisation that has been organising protests across the state, is Kishor Chavan. The senior Maratha activist has been voicing the grievances of the community for the past three decades and has been actively involved in the ongoing Jarange-led protests.

However, Chavan has now distanced himself from Jarange and alleged that he was using the agitation to further his personal interests at the cost of the community. He also lamented the tensions sparked between Marathas and the OBCs in the rural parts of the state owing to the agitation.

The point of contention between the numerically as well as socio-politically dominant Marathas and the OBCs is the former’s claim that they are a part of the same social grouping as that of the Kunbis, a community that is already a part of the OBC category.

Several Maratha caste activists have claimed that Kunbis are a sub-group of the larger Maratha caste agglomeration and that those who do not have a Kunbi caste certificate ought to be given one.

At present, applicants for higher education and state government jobs from the Maratha community can avail of an OBC Kunbi certificate if they are able to furnish a government record identifying any ancestor or relative from the paternal side who has been noted as Kunbi.

Those from the community who cannot avail of OBC Kunbi benefits gain from the 10 per cent Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) quota created solely for Marathas by the Mahayuti government earlier this year.

However, Maratha agitation leader Jarange is not content with the prevalent reservation on the grounds that the SEBC quota has been quashed by the Supreme Court twice in the past.

In his rallies and interviews, Jarange has been asking for the implementation of the ‘Sage-Soyre’ notification released by the state government at his behest in January 2024. Its implementation would enable all Maratha applicants in the state to claim the OBC Kunbi certificate even if they do not have any ancestor from the paternal side recorded as Kunbi.

Jarange’s former associate Chavan has now claimed that such blanket inclusion of Marathas into the OBC category was never on the Maratha Kranti Morcha’s agenda.

“The only motive behind organising this agitation was to seek OBC Kunbi certificates for the Marathas residing in the Marathwada region. Since this area was part of the erstwhile Nizam-ruled Hyderabad princely state, several documents pertaining to the residents of this region are in Hyderabad. There are revenue records in Urdu and Persian showing Maratha farming families in this region recorded as 'Kunbi-Maratha'.

“After Maharashtra state was formed and later, when Kunbis were notified as a backward caste by the Mandal commission, Marathas from all regions of the state who could produce proofs mentioning their paternal ancestors as Kunbis became eligible for OBC certificates, except those who were residents of Marathwada.

“I was requested by Jarange to approach the state government on this matter. When we brought this to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ notice, they agreed to take immediate action to translate old records and provide OBC Kunbis certificates to eligible applicants from Marathwada.

"Then suddenly, to our surprise, Jarange changed his stance and came up with the Sage-Soyre demand seeking blanket recognition of Marathas across the state as OBC Kunbis,” Chavan said.

“There was no reason for this agitation to continue if Jarange had not changed his stance. However, when someone gets addicted to publicity, they keep changing their position and eventually develop political ambitions. Jarange-led agitation has clearly become political.

“His constant flip-flops have caused immense damage to the Maratha community. More than 300 individuals have committed suicide till date seeking reservation, and almost all of these suicides have happened in the impoverished Marathwada region. Jarange should realise that he will be responsible if this spate of suicides continues and if the tensions between Marathas and OBCs heighten further,” Chavan added.

The senior Maratha activist also said that he will be travelling across the Marathwada region, which is the epicentre of the protest, to explain to the Maratha youth how they are being misguided and what should be the path ahead towards availing of a reservation.

Jarange, on the other hand, has called for a large conference of the Maratha community on 29 August at Antarwali Sarati, a village in Jalna district. The agitator plans to announce his further course of action here and has warned that he will field candidates in the upcoming state assembly election if the 'Sage-Soyre' demand is not fulfilled by the state government.