Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has announced that he will go on an indefinite hunger strike from January 20 at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan intensifying his demand of reservation for the Maratha community. The activist had given time till December 24 to the state government to fulfil his demand of reservation for the Maratha community.
"I will start an indefinite hunger strike at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai from January 20,” Jarange said while addressing a massive rally in Beed district of Marathwada region on Saturday, as per a PTI report.
"It is difficult to suppress the Marathas. We will not return without getting a reservation for the community," He said, claiming "crores" of people from the Maratha community will come to Mumbai on January 20.
Jarange said he will leave his Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district on foot and reach Mumbai and members from the community will also join him, the PTI report added.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has, however, urged people to exercise restraint saying that the Supreme Court has accepted the curative petition filed by the state government on the Maratha reservation issue and scheduled a hearing on January 24.
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This has opened a "window of hope' for the community, the CM said in a video message.
Shinde also said that the state government's legal team comprising a battery of efficient lawyers will present its view before the Supreme Court and make all efforts to prove that the Maratha community is socially and economically backward.
The State Backward Class Commission has been gathering empirical data on a "large scale" on the Maratha community and its plight, he added.
The CM also said that his government is committed to giving reservation to the Maratha community as he asked the people to practice restraint.
While assuring that the demands will be fulfiled, he also said that the quota benefits of other groups will remain untouched.