Amid Maharashtra quota ferment, faultlines between OBCs, Marathas deepen ahead of Assembly polls

The 10-day hunger strike by Other Backward Class (OBC) activists Laxman Hake and Navnath Waghmare in Jalna district’s Wadigodri village in the Marathwada region, which ended Saturday, was a renewed assertion to aggressively counter the movement for Maratha reservation within the OBC category in Maharashtra.

The drought-prone Marathwada region has become the epicentre of quota politics. Last August, Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil went on a 17-day fast to demand reservation for Marathas. The Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna has since become his key base.

Barely four kms away from Antarwali Sarathi is the Wadigodri village, which is fast becoming the centre of the OBC agitation against the proposed Maratha reservation within the existing 19% OBC quota in jobs and education.

Ahead of the Assembly polls slated for October 2024, the OBC agitation has been gaining momentum in the state. Within days of their indefinite fast launched on June 13, Hake and Waghmare received massive support from various OBC outfits from across Maharashtra.

On Friday, a state government delegation led by BJP minister Girish Mahajan had visited the site of the OBC agitation. Mahajan made an appeal to Hake and Waghmare to withdraw the agitation with the assurance that all their concerns would be addressed. However, the OBC activists had rejected this plea. Instead, Hake had said they wanted all the assurances from the state government in writing.

On Saturday, however, after a high-level state government delegation comprising several ministers and others – led by senior NCP minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal – visited them in the Wadigodri village, Hake and Waghmare broke their fast. “We are temporarily suspending our protest. If our demands are