Breaking his five-day hunger strike last week after the Maharashtra government accepted six out of eight demands, Manoj Jarange Patil, the face of the Maratha reservation protests that have gripped the western state, had one thing to say:
“Today is Diwali for us, as we have got what we wanted.”
But this Diwali has been short-lived. A week after the dramatic visuals of the protests coming to an end—a visibly weakened Patil breaking his fast after taking a sip of juice before being rushed to the hospital—the government’s proposal has left Marathas with mixed emotions and uncertainty over what comes next.
After deliberations with the Cabinet sub-committee, the government relented by accepting six out of Patil’s eight demands, including a government resolution (GR) for implementing the Hyderabad Gazette (1918) provisions, which would allow Marathas from the Marathwada region to establish their Kunbi status and avail of reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The Kunbis are included in the OBC list in Maharashtra.
“We don’t know if we should be happy or sad. It feels like we’ve been left hanging in a limbo. The government has given the GR but ministers from the government itself are saying they will fight this GR in court. How does that make sense?” asked Chandrashekhar Ghadge, a Maratha protester and the Pune district president of Sambhaji Brigade.