Mumbai, Sept 3: Activist Vinod Patil, who has filed petitions in courts concerning the Maratha quota, on Wednesday called the Government Resolution (GR) on granting Kunbi certificates to eligible community members “completely useless”.
The GR, issued after Maratha quota movement leader Manoj Jarange launched a hunger strike in Mumbai, will not benefit the community in any meaningful way, claimed Patil.
“The truth is, not a single certificate will come out of this GR. I have fought a legal battle for the community, and I can say with certainty that those without documentary proof of Kunbi lineage will never gain anything. That is why I am calling this decision a big disappointment,” Patil told reporters in Chattrapati Sambhajinagar.
He demanded that senior BJP minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who heads the cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation, should have held a press conference to explain the intent of the GR and take responsibility for the government’s promises.
Jarange ended his fast on Tuesday evening after the Maharashtra government issued a GR on forming a committee to issue Kunbi caste certificates to Maratha community members with historical evidence of their Kunbi heritage, a social group classified as an Other Backward Class (OBC) in the state.
“The process mentioned in the GR is not exclusive to the Kunbi certificate, but it is routinely used when it comes to issuing a caste certificate. The entire process is not new but through the GR, the government provided it in written format.
“Our demand was for those Marathas who do not have any certificate to prove their Kunbi lineage to get an OBC status because of the current challenging conditions. This demand is not at all met by this decision,” said Patil.
Asked about Vinod Patil’s remarks, minister Vikhe Patil said the government had accepted Jarange’s major demands, including implementation of the Hyderabad and Satara gazetteers, withdrawal of police cases against protesters, and financial aid and jobs for families of those who lost their lives during previous agitations.
The minister said the state had sought two months to issue a final GR recognising Marathas and Kunbis as one, assuring that the community’s interests would not be compromised.
Patil, however, refused to relent. He alleged that earlier, the then chief minister Eknath Shinde “played with gulal and gave no answers”, and now Vikhe Patil was doing the same. “Out of 100, I will give minus zero marks to this GR,” he said.
The activist also expressed regret that he could not personally pay tribute to the Maratha protesters who died during the quota struggle. “Society looks at me with expectations. But let me caution: this GR is just a piece of paper and nothing more,” he said.
Jarange, who has held several fasts to press for reservation for Marathas in education and government jobs, has been the face of the quota movement since the 2023 Jalna lathi charge, when police action against protesters triggered a wave of agitations across Maharashtra. (PTI)
