Maratha-OBC reservation: Uddhav Thackeray puts ball in Modi’s court
On Tuesday, a delegation of the Maratha Kranti Thok Morcha, one of the several Maratha activist groups, reached Kala Nagar to meet Thackeray, but the police restricted them. The agitators then raised slogans demanding Thackeray clarify his stand on the Maratha-OBC reservation matter
Mumbai: The political row over the Maratha-OBC reservation issue intensified on Tuesday, as activists from the Maratha Kranti Thok Morcha held an agitation near Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray’s residence Matoshree, demanding that he clarify his stand on the matter.
Thackeray eventually met the delegation and put the ball in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s court, saying only the central government could increase the 50% cap on reservation. The former chief minister said his party would support the Modi government’s decision if it came up with a solution that was acceptable to all communities.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had sponsored the protests outside Matoshree. This was after the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi had skipped an all-party meeting convened by the state government earlier this month to discuss the issue.
Ahead of the state assembly polls in October, the ruling Mahayuti government is under pressure from Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, who has held multiple protests and hunger strikes demanding reservation for Marathas under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota. Meanwhile, OBC activists Laxman Hake and Navnath Waghmare have led counter-protests against the dilution of the community’s quota.
On Tuesday, a delegation of the Maratha Kranti Thok Morcha, one of the several Maratha activist groups, reached Kala Nagar to meet Thackeray, but the police restricted them. The agitators then raised slogans demanding Thackeray clarify his stand on the Maratha-OBC reservation matter.
“We will also agitate outside the home of [Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief] Sharad Pawar, [Maharashtra Congress president] Nana Patole, [deputy chief minister] Devendra Fadnavis, and chief minister Eknath Shinde,” said the group’s leader, Ramesh Kere-Patil. This comes in the backdrop of the BJP asking Maratha activists why they are not quizzing opposition party leaders over the reservation issue.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve met the agitators and discussed their expectations. While speaking to the media, he said that Kere-Patil is a BJP man. Thackeray then invited Kere-Patil inside Matoshree, where he told him that his party supported reservation for Marathas, but added that the Maratha-OBC issue could not be solved in all-party meetings. “Only a meeting between leaders of two communities could solve the issue. Our party will support any decision acceptable to all,” he said.
While speaking to the media, Thackeray said he told the Maratha Kranti Thok Morcha delegation that the issue could be solved only at the central government level. “I told them let’s go together to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as only the central government can take necessary decisions to increase the 50% reservation limit. Let PM Modi come up with a solution for the Maratha-OBC and Dhangar reservation. We will support the decision acceptable to all, and our party MPs will vote in support of those proposals in parliament.”
Thackeray also urged Maratha activists not to succumb to the Mahayuti government’s “politics of hatred” and alleged that the state government is trying to create a rift between Marathas and OBCs for political gains.