'Golden day for Maharashtra', says Jarange-Patil after ending five-day fast

Mumbai, Sep 2 (IANS) Pro-Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Tuesday ended his indefinite fast after drinking lemon juice at the hands of cabinet subcommittee chairman and Water Resources Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil after the government accepted his demands.

Jarange-Patil had launched his fast demanding reservation for the Maratha community from the OBC quota. Before announcing his decision to wind up fast, Jarange-Patil sought views from his supporters gathered in large numbers at Azad Maidan.

Jarange-Patil told his supporters to peacefully leave Mumbai by 9 pm today. He will be admitted to the hospital for a medical check-up and later leave for Antarwali Saarati.

In his reaction, he claimed that “It is a golden day for Marathwada and Western Maharashtra in particular and for the entire Maharashtra in general. I have conquered Mumbai and, now leaving after scoring the victory.”

Minister Vikhe-Patil termed Jarange-Patil a warrior and assured that the assurances given by the government will be implemented in the true spirit.

He also thanked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, other cabinet subcommittee members and bureaucrats for their contribution in solving the stalemate.

The government accepted Jararnge-Patil’s demand for the implementation of the Hyderabad Gazette.

“We had presented our demands in writing to the government. The first issue was our demand for the immediate implementation of the Hyderabad Gazette. The government has decided on this. Minister Vikhe Patil has assured that if the protesters accept this proposal, we will issue a government resolution (GR) for it. According to this government decision, if the Marathas of the village, the clan, and the relatives have received a Kunbi certificate, action is proposed to be taken to investigate and issue the certificate, which means the immediate implementation of the Hyderabad Gazette has been approved,” said Jarange-Patil.

On his demand for the implementation of the Satara and Aundh gazettes, he said: “We had demanded the implementation of the Satara Gazette from the government. The government has said that a decision will be taken after examining the implementation of the Satara, Pune and Aundh Gazettes. However, according to the government, the government has agreed to implement it by eliminating the legal errors within a month. Now our demands about the Hyderabad Gazette and the Satara Gazettes have been accepted. This will pave the way for Kunbi from Marathwada and Western Maharashtra to get Maratha certificates and the benefits of the OBC quota.”

On the withdrawal of police cases against Maratha protesters, Jarange-Patil said: “We had demanded that the cases against the Maratha protesters be withdrawn. The state government has decided that the cases will be withdrawn. If there are some left, the cabinet subcommittee is saying that the government will go to court and withdraw those cases. The government has also assured to issue a government resolution on the withdrawal of all the cases against the protesters by the end of September.”

On demand for jobs for the heirs of the families of those killed in the protests, Jarange-Patil said: “We had demanded immediate assistance and government jobs for the heirs of the families of those killed in the agitation as per their educational qualifications. In this regard, the government has decided that an assistance of Rs 15 crore has been provided by the government to provide immediate assistance to the heirs of the families of those killed in the agitation. The government has also decided that the assistance will be transferred to the accounts of the concerned families within a week.”

On demand for the registration of 58 lakh Kunbi records of Marathas, Jarange-Patil said, “We demanded to have 58 lakh Kunbi records of Marathas registered in the Gram Panchayat. Because people did not know whether Kunbi records were registered or not. The government has decided in this regard. Now, 58 lakh Kunbi records of Marathas will be registered in the Gram Panchayat.”

On the demand relating to the formation of a genealogical committee and providing an office to the Shinde Committee, Jarange-Patil said that Minister Vikhe-Patil informed him that the government has decided in this regard.

On the release of the government resolution that Maratha-Kunbi are one, Jarange-Patil said: “We had told the government to issue a GR stating that Maratha-Kunbi are one. But the government says that the process is complicated. Give it a month for that. I have told the government that it should not take one month but two months, and issue a GR stating that Maratha-Kunbi are one. For this, we are giving you two months.”

On the demand of vetting relatives, Jarange-Patil said, “The most important issue now is the relatives. The relatives are not being scrutinised. The complaints that have come have not been scrutinised yet, and 8 lakh complaints have come. Therefore, the government is saying that it will take time to scrutinise those complaints. We will give it time.”

--IANS

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