Will challenge Mandal commission if Bhujbal keeps obstructing Maratha quota: Jarange

Nashik, Feb 8 (PTI) Quota activist Manoj Jarange on Thursday said he will "challenge Mandal commission" if Maharashtra minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal created hurdles in the way of reservation for the Maratha community.

He also warned that if the government did not implement its assurance to give Kunbi caste certificates to "sage-soyare" or blood relatives of those who have already established themselves as belonging to the Kunbi community, he would launch a fresh hunger strike from February 10.

"Just like you have sons and daughters, we too have sons and daughters. We do not want to challenge the Mandal commission. You live and let us live. But if you created hurdles in the path of our reservation, our patience will run out and we will have to challenge the Mandal commission," Jarange told reporters here.

Notably, reservation for the OBC communities in education and government jobs was implemented for the first time at the national level on the basis of the Mandal commission's report some three decades ago.

"State food and civil supplies minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal has created problems for the Maratha reservation thrice. He should stop it," Jarange said.

Bhujbal has been opposing the state government's decision to facilitate grant of Kunbi certificates to Marathas, which was Jarange's demand. Kunbis get reservation in the OBC category, and Bhujbal last month termed his own government's concessions to Jarange's agitation as granting backdoor entry to Marathas in the OBC quota.

"The proposed hunger strike from February 10 is for the implementation of the 'sage-soyare' order. The demand of revocation of criminal cases filed against Maratha agitators has also not been fulfilled," the activist further said.

On Bhujbal's warning that he will resign if injustice was meted out to the OBCs, Jarange said the minister was not someone who resigns. "He takes resignations of others," he said to a question. PTI COR KRK