Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has urged OBCs to hit streets, while asking them to get ready to stand against own their own government.
Bhujbal’s appeal comes after Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde announced the decision to expand the scope of Justice (retired) Sandeep Shinde committee to extend Kunbi (Other Backward Classes) certificate to Marathas from across the state.
Bhujbal gave a call to the OBCs to not suffer by “keeping quiet” and spread “terror (dahshat)” so much to ensure to get things done, IE reported.
“We must speak up if we are facing anything. But if we are facing injustice or having some trouble and we decide to keep quiet, then we will not get a remedy for it.
Therefore, now it is time to spread terror (evdhi dahshat majvaychi) and get things done,” the report quoted Bhujbal as having said.
Bhujbal was speaking in the Jalna district in Marathwada on his way to Beed, where he will meet with OBC Samata Parishad’s senior worker Subhash Raut, whose hotel was allegedly burned down by Maratha protesters, the report mentioned.
“He will also meet with MLAs Prakash Solanki and Sandeep Kshirsagar, whose houses were also allegedly torched by the mob. Both MLAs have claimed that the attack on their houses was by anti-social elements and not by Maratha protesters,” it added.
Bhujbal is a senior OBC leader in Maharashtra who has voiced opinions against giving reservations to Marathas in the OBC quota. “People are asking me to raise my voice. In every taluka of the state these bulldozers are roaming about. The OBCs are unlikely to survive this. It is a do-or-die situation for us. We need to raise our voices. We are as it is being pushed around,” Bhujbal was alleged to have said in a leaked telephone conversation he had with one of his supporters.
Bhujbal on Monday justified his statement, saying that OBC activists were being targeted and he was rallying the community to ensure that their rights were not trampled.
“There is an attack that is happening on the OBC reservation. Houses of MLAs are being torched, OBC activists’ hotels are being targeted. We need to speak about it. The way others have the right to rally their support base, similarly, I, too, have a right to rally all the OBC communities. We, too, should express our angst,” Bhujbal said, as per the report.
