Activist Manoj Jarange has received the support of the Mumbai Dabbawala Association ahead of his agitation for Maratha reservation at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on Friday.
The body, led by its president Subhash Talekar, will be joining the protest to back Jarange.
Under the leadership of Khed Panchayat Samiti Deputy Chairperson Sakharam Shinde and Shiv Sena Branch Head from Gadad, Shantaram Vishnu Shinde, along with the Maratha community members from the western Maharashtra’s Khed, have departed for Mumbai.
Meanwhile, Senior Congress leader Harshwardhan Sapkal on Thursday demanded that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led governments in Maharashtra and at the Centre immediately announce reservation for the Maratha community by doing away with the existing 50 per cent cap on quotas, reported PTI.
Addressing a press conference, Sapkal said that the issue of Maratha reservation could be resolved within minutes if there was genuine political will.
“The BJP and Devendra Fadnavis must uphold Rajdharma and honour the promises given to the community. With a huge majority in Maharashtra and the BJP in power at the Centre, they should go to Delhi and remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations,” stated Sapkal.
He claimed that the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government had earlier granted reservations to the Maratha community, and even when the resolution was passed during the BJP-led government`s tenure, the Congress had extended its full support.
“Devendra Fadnavis had thundered that Maratha quota would be given within seven days of (BJP) coming to power. What happened to that promise?” he questioned.
Sapkal further reminded that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had also made a commitment to grant reservation to the Dhangar community in the very first cabinet meeting of the BJP-led government, but “nothing came of it.”
He also criticised Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
“Deputy CM Eknath Shinde took an oath in front of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Navi Mumbai amid celebrations on the quota issue,” Sapkal said, adding that symbolic gestures were no substitute for actual policy action.
The Congress leader urged both the state and Central governments to stop making empty promises and take immediate legal and constitutional steps to ensure reservation for Marathas.
(With PTI inputs)
