Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, who has been advocating for reservation for the Maratha community from the OBC quota, will begin his indefinite hunger strike over the issue on January 26 in Mumbai.

Jarange-Patil is presently leading a procession towards Mumbai, accompanied by thousands of supporters. The march commenced in Jalna district on January 20 and reached Pune on Tuesday.

Jarange-Patil has proclaimed that this is the “final struggle” for the Maratha reservation. “About 2 crore to 2.5 crore people from the Maratha community will come to Mumbai. Marathas will show their strength on January 26,” he told reporters.

The latest protest comes even as the Supreme Court of India is scheduled to hear a curative petition filed by the Maharashtra government in the apex court against its 2021 judgement on January 24.

The demand for reservation quota by Marathas is decades old, but in 2018, the state government granted 16% reservation in the face of sweeping protests. This was slashed to 13% in jobs and 12% in education by the Bombay high court. The quota was quashed by the Supreme Court in 2021.

Who is Manoj Jarange-Patil?

Manoj Jarange-Patil, who originally hails from the adjoining Beed district, settled in Shahgad in Jalna district after marriage.

He joined the movement for reservations for the Maratha community in government jobs and education about 15 years ago. He participated in several marches and protests and also sold 2.5 acres of agricultural land out of his four acres to meet his daily needs.

After initially working for Congress, Jarange-Patil founded an outfit called the Shivba Sanghatana to organise protests for the Maratha reservation.

After the Supreme Court quashed the Maratha reservation quota in 2021, Jarange-Patil participated in demonstrations at various places, including a three-month agitation in Sasht-Pimpalgaon in Jalna district, where hundreds of people joined him.

The Maratha activist came into the limelight during a hunger strike in Septemeber last year at the village of Ataravali-Sarate.

On the fourth day of the agitation, a police contingent tried to forcibly admit him to hospital. A clash ensued between the police and Jarange-Patil’s supporters. After the lathi charge, teargas shells and “police brutality” made the headlines, the hitherto unknown Maratha activist burst into the political limelight.

The activist has been demanding reservation for the Maratha community in government jobs and education. He has held several hunger strikes in the past few months while the government has been bending backwards to pacify him.

After he was convinced by a government delegation comprising senior ministers and retired judges to wait till December 24, he declared that he would give the government one last chance to fulfil his demand by then. On December 26, he announced that he would begin to march to Mumbai and embark on a fast unto death at Azad Maidan after reaching the city.