OBCs to organise protest against Maratha reservation under their quota

Nagpur, Sep 6 (IANS) OBC organisations on Saturday unanimously decided to take out a protest march in Nagpur in October against the Maharashtra government’s decision to implement the Hyderabad Gazette to provide Kunbi status to the Maratha community and thereby pave the way for them to get benefits under the OBC quota.

OBC organisations from Nagpur, Bhandara, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Wardha, Yavatmal, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana and Washim districts of Vidarbha met on Saturday, asserting that the implementation of the government resolution will do injustice to the OBC community.

A veteran OBC leader and Congress Legislature Party leader, Vijay Wadettiwar, said that the state government had used the word 'eligible' in the draft government resolution to provide Kunbi certificates and thereby provide reservation benefits to the Maratha community under the OBC quota.

“However, the government later dropped ‘eligible’ word, at the time of release of the final government resolution. This clearly means that the reservation would be given to the Maratha community under the OBC quota. This will be an injustice to the original OBC community. To fight against this, a committee of 25 prominent people will be formed and a grand march of OBCs will be held in Nagpur in October,” he said.

Wadettiwar said that at Saturday’s meeting, the OBC leaders representing various organisations clearly opposed the provision of reservation to the Maratha community under the OBC quota.

He added that the meeting was attended by Congress legislator Abhijit Vanjari, former MP Khushal Bopche, Shekhar Savarbandhe, Nagesh Chaudhary, Ishwar Balbudhe, Dnyanesh Vakudkar, Adv Kishore Lambat, and Umesh Korram of OBC Yuva Adhikar Manch, among others.

“The government decision regarding Maratha reservation will definitely harm OBCs. Nearly 13 per cent is already deducted from the 27 per cent reservation. If the remaining 19 per cent is also reserved for the Maratha community, how much will be left for OBCs? There is a possibility that the rights of OBCs will end,” remarked Wadettiwar.

He also appealed to other OBC organisations and individuals to support their fight regardless of which party they belong to.

He also said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is opposed to reservations, adding that the people of their ideology are in power.

“How can we expect them not to give a blow to the OBC reservation? If we do not fight the court battle today, the OBCs will suffer a big blow,” he said.

He alleged that the RSS and those following its ideology in the state government are plotting to end the political reservation of OBCs.

“A meeting of prominent OBC leaders will be held in Nagpur on September 12. In this meeting, the strategy will be decided in accordance with the fight against the government's decision regarding the Maratha reservation,” he said.

Wadettiwar said that the battle will be fought at two levels, both judicial and on the streets, adding that the lawyers' association from Vidarbha will present the case of OBCs in court with full force.

“The second fight will be fought through agitation. Our stance is that no one should be subjected to injustice. It is also necessary to protect our rights. Our stance is that the reservation of OBCs should not be affected,” he said.

Earlier, a senior OBC leader and NCP Minister, Chhagan Bhujbal, strongly opposed granting Maratha community reservation benefits under the OBC quota.

He also claimed that the word “eligible” for Marathas to get Kunbi status has been dropped, and the final government resolution has opened a Pandora’s box.

He further threatened to approach the Supreme Court and High Court, saying that Marathas should not be accommodated in the OBC quota as 17 per cent reservation is available for 374 communities in the state.

Minister Bhujbal, who is the founder of Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, also questioned the legality of granting OBC status to Marathas, saying that the court has already termed the demand to categorise Marathas and Kunbis as one community as “foolish.”

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has clarified that as long as the MahaYuti government is in the state, there will be no injustice to OBCs, saying that the government has no intention of taking away the reservation of one community and giving it to another.

“Marathas will get the rights of Marathas, and OBCs will get the rights of OBCs. There will be no such thing as pitting two communities against each other here,” he added.

--IANS

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