Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: OBC activist Laxman Hake on Saturday was blamed Maratha limit activist Manoj Jarange for the current suffering and confusion among the youth belonging to Maratha community.
Hake made the statement after being discharged from a private hospital in Jalna, where he and fellow activist Navnath Waghmare were recuperating after leaving an indefinite hunger strike three days ago. He questioned the silence of the current and former chief ministers and their reluctance to assure OBCs that their quotas would not be compromised to appease the Maratha community.
Ever since the Maratha reservation issue came to the fore, the state has seen protests by Maratha youth against the delay in granting reservation to the Maratha community. The issue has come into the limelight and has been actively covered by Jarange since the lathe charge in Antarwali Sarati village last year.
Hake said, “Jarange’s demands have created disillusionment among the Maratha community. Maratha youths are committing suicide demanding reservation under OBC quota and Jarange is solely responsible for their suicides.”
He said Jarange should understand that the reservation is not a plan to financially uplift the community, but aims to uplift the social level of those sections of society that have been exploited for generations and prevented from entering the mainstream.
The OBC activist said it was high time the Maratha youth stopped falling prey to false narrative and propaganda around the quota issue and became fodder for a handful of political masters.
A day earlier, Hake had alleged that Jarange had reached an understanding with NCP founder Sharad Pawar and Prime Minister Eknath Shinde so that the quota activist would not field any candidate in the upcoming assembly elections. Hake said the OBCs would ensure defeat of 25 MLAs from Marathwada region.