Govt must immediately hold dialogue with Maratha quota leader Manoj Jarange: Uddhav

Mumbai, Aug 29 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said the government must immediately hold a dialogue with Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange and give justice to his community.

Jarange began his indefinite hunger strike at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai on Friday, vowing not to leave till the community’s demands were met.

The protesters were compelled to march to Mumbai to seek justice, Thackeray said.

“The government must immediately hold dialogue (with Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange) and give justice to the community,” Thackeray told reporters. There should be a respectable solution to the issue, the former CM said.

He said the responsibility of giving justice to the Maratha community lies with the government.

The protesters are not “terrorists” and they have come to Mumbai not for “rioting” but for justice, said Thackeray.

The Maratha community was deceived several times in the past through false promises, and their issues remained unresolved, Thackeray claimed. He, however, did not make his stand clear on the issue.

Hitting out at Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena head Eknath Shinde, Thackeray said why justice was not given to the Maratha community when he was the CM for two and a half years.

Jarange has been demanding a 10 per cent quota for Marathas under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. He wants all Marathas to be recognised as Kunbis – an agrarian caste included in the OBC category – which will make them eligible for reservation in government jobs and education. PTI PR NR