Pune/ Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: OBC activists on Tuesday accused govt of creating a backdoor entry for the Maratha community to avail benefits under the OBC quota and warned of a statewide agitation, apart from challenging the GR in court. They were reacting after the state govt issued a GR facilitating the Maratha community to obtain Kunbi certificates based on the Hyderabad gazette.Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange accepted the GR presented to him by the state-appointed sub-committee on Tuesday and ended his hunger strike. Cabinet minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal said that the process to ascertain applicants as Kunbi should be transparent. “We have no problems with the real Kunbi availing the reservation under the OBC quota, but if the process to ascertain a person as Kunbi is shoddy at the village level, our organisations will start a statewide protest,” Bhujbal said.Laxman Hake, another OBC activist, called the GR an injustice. He said, “The OBC quota will be disturbed by govt’s latest GR. It will allow backdoor entry to applicants who do not have valid documents to be eligible for OBC quota benefits. We will challenge the GR in the court to save our quota.”OBC activist Mangesh Sasane called the GR unconstitutional. He said, “Govt has kept the language in the GR vague and allowed a large number of Marathas to get into the OBC quota. The GR does not specify that documents of only blood relatives of the applicants will be termed valid to get Kunbi certificates. It only mentions relatives, which is not correct. We will challenge the GR in court.” Meanwhile, the hunger strike by OBC activists Vitthal Talekar, Balasaheb Dakhane, Babasaheb Batule, Shrihari Nirmal, and Asaram Dongre, at Sonianagar in Jalna’s Antarwali Sarati, continued on Tuesday.Talekar told TOI, “The GR is unconstitutional and must be withdrawn. Instead of the words ‘sage soyare and sarsakat, govt has included ‘raktache naate’ (blood relations). A white paper should be tabled on Kunbi certificates issued in the last two years and govt should give a written assurance that the OBC quota will not be disturbed.”The protesters said their fast will continue until their demands are met. OBC leader Baliram Khatke, who visited the protest site on Tuesday, said govt has betrayed them. “CM Devendra Fadnavis has disappointed us. The ordinance to implement the Hyderabad gazette is dangerous for the OBC community. Our leaders and office-bearers will decide what comes next,” Khatke said.In Nagpur, National OBC Federation president Baban Taywade said their agitation at Constitution Square since Aug 30 would not end until the state deputed a representative for talks and accepted their 13-point charter. “Govt must talk to us the way it did with Jarange,” said Taywade.Umesh Korram of OBC Yuva Adhikar Manch said the Shinde committee betrayed “real OBCs” while favouring Marathas. CM Fadnavis urged OBC outfits to withdraw their stir, assuring them their quota was safe. (With inputs from Vaibhav Ganjapure & Abhishek Chaudhari in Nagpur) |
