Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange is being administered intravenous fluids as his hunger strike entered day nine on Wednesday, said doctors who are monitoring his health situation in Maharashtra's Jalna district. This was done after he started suffering from dehydration due to his continuous hunger strike and protest in the district's Antarwali Sarati village since August 29, reported news agency PTI. A health official said Jarange’s blood pressure was also on the lower side in the morning. Jalna’s Additional Civil Surgeon Dr Pratap Ghodke said, "Jarange has dehydration and his creatinine level is a little high. We have started giving him intravenous fluids.”
He was also quoted as saying by PTI, "Though Jarange's vital parameters are fine, his blood pressure is on the lower side. His BP recorded this morning was 110 (systolic) and 70 (diastolic). The electrolytes are fine and his heart rate is also satisfactory.”
Notably, a team of doctors is monitoring his health condition regularly. Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, Jarange said he would stop drinking water and fluids after four days if a favourable decision on quota is not taken.
However, the government has so far reached out to the activist only two times asking him to withdraw the fast, but he has refused to budge, reported PTI. Maharashtra Minister of Tourism Girish Mahajan along with his cabinet colleagues Sandipan Bhumre and Atul Save met Jarange on Tuesday and urged him to call off the protest.
Mahajan asked Jarange to accompany them to Mumbai and hold discussions with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on the matter, but Jarange refused the plea. Notably, CM Shinde on Monday said a committee will submit its report within a month on how to provide Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas from the Marathwada region.
Earlier on September 1, the police charged and lobbed tear gas shells in order to disperse the violent mob in the Antarwali Sarati village after protesters allegedly refused to let authorities shift Jarange to the hospital. Many people, including 40 police personnel, sustained injuries and over 15 state transport buses were burnt and destroyed during the violence.
The eligible Marathas have been assured that the government would explore the possibility of giving them a certificate of Kunbi caste, which they had in the time of the Nizam state. This would help eligible people get the benefits provided to the Other Backward Class (OBC) category. The government is still working out how to restore the quota which was scrapped by the Supreme Court.
Reservations for jobs and education provided by the Maharashtra government to the Maratha community in 2018 when Devendra Fadnavis was chief minister, was quashed by the Supreme Court in May 2021, citing the 50 per cent ceiling on total reservations among other grounds.