Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule on Wednesday claimed Maharashtra’s Eknath Shinde-led government is suffering from “policy paralysis”, comments coming after Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange launched an indefinite hunger strike to seek reservation for the community, his second fast on the issue in just over a month.
As the 40-day deadline he set before the state government to implement Maratha reservation came to an end, Jarange launched an indefinite fast at Antarwali Sarati village under Ambad tehsil of Jalna district in the morning to press for quota for his community.
Talking to reporters here, Sule said Jarange, at the time of ending his first fast in mid-September, had given an ultimatum of 40 days to the government to provide reservation to the Maratha community in jobs and education under the OBC category.
The Shinde-led dispensation had then-assured Maratha reservation will happen in 40 days but that promise has not been fulfilled yet, said the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) working president.
“There is policy paralysis (implying inability to take decisions on key issues at right time) in the government,” Sule said in response to queries on the long-pending Maratha quota matter.Jarange (40) had launched a hunger strike in Antarwali Sarati village in August-end demanding that the Maratha community be granted reservation in government jobs and education under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
The activist withdrew the protest on September 14 and set a 40-day deadline (that ended on October 24) for the government to grant quota to the community.
The activist has been demanding that Marathas across the state be given Kunbi certificates. Kunbis enjoy reservation benefits under the OBC category. State’s OBC leaders have, however, opposed this demand.
The government has set up a five-member panel headed by Judge Sandeep Shinde (retired) to determine the Standard Operating Procedures, including legal and administrative framework, for giving caste certificates to Maratha community members referred to as Kunbis in Nizam-era documents.
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