War of words between Maratha activist Manoj Jarange and OBC leaders escalated
When speaking at an OBC community rally in Pandharpur town of Solapur district, bjp MLC Gopichand Padalkar said “Puppets are spreading wrong information that Vanjara and Dhangar communities have nothing to do with OBC reservation. But let me tell you that both these communities fall under Nomadic Tribes (NT) but have been getting reservation under OBC quota in central government’s jobs and education institutions along with local self-government bodies. So there is no chance that their reservation will be encroached on by the maratha community.”The rally was attended by other prominent OBC leaders as well, including maharashtra minister Chaggan Bhujbal and OBC Jan Morcha president Prakash Shendge. In his speech, Padalkar said the Vanjara and Dhangar communities are support Bhujbal and “the cause he is fighting for”. Bhujbal and other OBC leaders have maintained that the existing reservation for the Other backward classes should not be curtailed while giving reservation to the Marathas.Maratha activist Jarange had launched a hunger strike for the demand of maratha quota first in august and again in October. Following Jarange’s hunger strike, the Eknath Shinde-led maharashtra government decided to give Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas who could produce records of the erstwhile hyderabad state where their ancestors were described as belonging to Kunbi community so that they can avail of OBC quota. Bhujbal had recently questioned how records showing maratha families as belonging to the Kunbi caste, an OBC community, were suddenly being discovered. “Initially 5,000 records were found in Marathwada which was part of the Nizam’s hyderabad state (before 1948). Later the number went up to 13,500…. Even when there were elections in Telangana, the number went up,” Bhujbal had said.