After the Maharashtra government accepted all demands over the Maratha quota, the activist Manoj Jarange Patil and state chief minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday together garlanded the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Navi Mumbai on Saturday morning. Shinde's meeting with Patil highlights the state government's release of the draft regarding the reservation demands of Marathas.
The government came out with the ordinance as per Patil's demand, and a team of government officials visited him Friday night at the campsite. Patil, who had been on a hunger strike for the reservation, broke his strike with a fruit juice in the presence of Shinde as well.
CM Shinde addressed the gathering and said being the son of a farmer he said he knows how it feels. He said he had promised to give reservation to the Marathas and now he has fulfilled it. He called it a historic moment.
"We never make any decision for votes; we make decisions for the public interest. Today is the day of victory for all of you, we have accepted all the demands", he added.
Earlier, Jarange addressed a gathering and said that the struggle was for reservation for Marathas and official recognition with Kunbi certificates. Kunbi is an agrarian community that falls in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, and Patil has been demanding Kunbi certificates for all Marathas.
"This struggle was for a reservation for Marathas, we came here to get 54 lakh Kunbi certificates, we have been struggling for the last four months, my generation has struggled for this reservation. More than 300 people committed suicide. We will not allow any rift between OBCs and Marathas, but they are trying to create a rift between us, but this will not happen. There is a lot of love between OBC and Marathas, we are all together," Patil was quoted by ANI. Patil further expressed pride in his community for following his words.