The Other Backward Class (OBC) in Maharashtra, led by senior minister Chhagan Bhujbal and other political heavyweights are strongly opposing the plans of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to grant reservation to the Marathas under the Kunbi category. This category constitutes a part of the OBCs in the state. These leaders say that this backdoor entry of the Marathas as Kunbis in the reservation status will adversely impact the OBC quota, which they are unwilling to concede. The OBC leaders have announced plans for a sustained protest against the granting of Kunbi status to the Marathas.
This will see both communities – OBCs and Marathas – take the reservation fight on to the streets at the same time which could be a challenge to the law and order situation in the state. Previously, both communities have maintained a distance in their protests, however, this time the OBCs – led by Bhujbal – too have taken an aggressive path. They speak in the voice of unison and have publicly told the OBCs that they will never allow the Marathas to be given reservation from the share of their community. In response to this, the Maratha leader who is spearheading the reservation protests, Manoj Jarage Patil, has promised his community that he will not rest until the Marathas are given reservation as Kunbis.
Shinde, whose Cabinet is sharply divided on the Maratha reservation issue, faces an isolation over the issue. With the Maharashtra Assembly polls slated for next year and the plummeting popularity of the tripartite government led by Shinde, there is tremendous pressure on the incumbent government to announce the Maratha reservation. However, the OBCs have threatened retaliatory protests in the event of such a move by the government.
Shinde’s deputies – Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar – are also on opposite sides of the political divide. While Fadnavis has been saying that the government is minutely examining both the OBC as well as the Maratha reservation issues, Pawar has maintained a stoic silence after his entry into the Shinde cabinet. Prior to his defection with a sizeable number of NCP MLAs from the Opposition benches to the government led by Shinde, Pawar was a vocal voice demanding reservation for the Marathas. In fact, he has also been a part of the long march of the Marathas in Mumbai when lakhs took to the streets of the city demanding immediate reservation. However, after his entry into the state cabinet as deputy chief minister, Pawar has kept a distance from the reservation issue after an odd statement that the Marathas will not be given reservation as Kunbis.
Last month, the Maratha reservation agitation had picked up aggressive speed with 6000 villages in Maharashtra announcing a boycott of ministers of the Maharashtra Cabinet and party leaders cutting across the political divide. Villagers pulled down banners and hoardings of political parties. They had attacked and vandalized houses and offices of ministers and leaders who opposed Maratha reservation.
The list of demands submitted to the government by Jharange Patil include the withdrawal of cases filed against the members of the Maratha community who were part of the political protests. The OBCs oppose this demand.
Jarange-Patil had started a fast-unto-death hunger strike at the Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna district of the state on August 29 and had called it off on September 14 after the chief minister visited him in the village and assured him that the reservation would be granted. Patil has also demanded that the state must start distributing Kunbi certificates to the Marathas with immediate effect. The OBCs have announced that they will take to the streets against this demand.
The chief minister had announced in early September that a committee appointed by the Maharashtra Government would submit its report within a month on granting Kunbi caste certificates to the Marathas from the Marathwada region, which has a massive development backlog and is considered as an economically backward region in the state.
Sachin Rajurkar, leader of the OBC Mahasangh says that including Marathas in the Kunbi category is a “backdoor entry for the Marathas in the OBC quota”. The OBC leaders have demanded that the Maratha reservation must be accommodated under the Economically Weaker Sections category. “The Maratha community is not proven to be a socially backward community. Therefore, it cannot be included in the Kunbi category,” says Rajurkar.
The Kunbis, a farming community, is counted under the OBC category in Maharashtra. The Marathas of the Marathwada region were counted as Kunbis when the region was part of the Hyderabad Province. However, when the region became a part of Maharashtra, the Marathas were not counted as OBCs but as Marathas. Since then, it has been a long-standing demand of the Maratha community to be granted the status of Kunbis. However, a sizeable number of Marathas are also opposed to losing the upper caste status if categorised under Kunbis.
Presently, there is 52 per cent reservation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and 10 per cent for the Economically Backward Classes. According to Pawar, the Maratha community already has reservation under the Economically Weaker Section category and he has sought data to understand the benefits for the community in government jobs and admissions in colleges through this quota. According to Pawar, there are over 350 castes which fall under the OBC category who have been demanding enhanced reservation as they claim that the present reservation quota granted to them is insufficient. The original Kunbis are also granted reservation under the OBC category, says Pawar.
The leader says that the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) has demanded a caste census in Maharashtra on the lines of that conducted in Bihar to establish the accurate numbers of SCs, STs, OBCs, nomadic tribes, minorities, and other communities in the state.
