Mumbai: While Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil is firm on his demand of reservation for Marathas in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar has claimed that ‘Nizami Marathas’ are trying to seize the OBC quota in Maharashtra. He urged OBCs to counteract such efforts in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections.
“Nizami Marathas are trying to snatch the OBC reservation. The OBCs should thwart such plans in the Vidhan Sabha polls,” Ambedkar said at a public meeting on Tuesday in Jalna as part of his ‘Aaraskshan Bachao Yatra.’
His criticism was apparently aimed at Jarange, who hails from the Marathwada region, which was under the Nizam’s rule over the erstwhile Hyderabad state. Jalna, which is the hometown of Jarange, is a part of Marathwada.
“Maratha leaders from both the ruling and opposition parties are planning to undermine the OBC reservation system after the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections. The OBC reservation is at stake,” Ambedkar said.
He appealed to the OBC people to send 100 members from their community to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha to foil the ‘plan’ of diluting the OBC reservation.
Ambedkar, the chief of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), has undertaken the ‘Aaraskshan Bachao Yatra,’ which commenced on July 25 from Mumbai’s Chaityabhoomi, the memorial of Ambedkar's grandfather Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. It is set to conclude in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
In February, the Maharashtra legislature passed a bill providing 10 per cent reservation to the Marathas, who comprise more than 30 per cent of the state’s population, in education and government jobs under a separate category.
However, Maratha community members led by Jarange have been insisting on their caste’s inclusion in the OBC category. But, several OBC leaders have opposed it and demanded that their reservation should not be diluted.
