Maratha reservation activists celebrate in Navi Mumbai after the Maharashtra government accepted the demands

Mumbai: Maratha reservation activists celebrated in Navi Mumbai after Manoj Jarange Patil announced the end of protests on Friday following the Maharashtra government's decision to accept their demands. Maratha reservation activist Patil, who is on hunger strike, stated that Prime Minister Eknath Shinde has accepted their demands and the protest is now over. CM Shinde is expected to end Patil's fast with juice today.

“Prime Minister Eknath Shinde has done a good job. Our protest is now over. Our request has been accepted. We will accept the letter from him. I will drink juice from the hands of the Chief Minister tomorrow (Saturday),” Patil said at a press conference on Friday evening.

Referring to the demand for Kunbi certificates, in which protesters demanded a certificate for 54 lakh people, Patil said they will get the certificates soon.

“54 lakh entries have been found for our fight. They will receive the certificate soon,” Patil said.

On Friday, Manoj Jarange Patil warned the CM Shinde-led government to issue a government resolution regarding the Maratha quota, failing which protesters would march towards Mumbai on Saturday morning if their demands were not met. He also requested the state government to withdraw all cases filed against the protesters.

Meanwhile, Minister of State Mangal Prabhat Lodha stated that the adopted ordinance provides the solution to all the problems. He therefore called on the demonstrators to end the protest.

“A movement underway in Maharashtra for Maratha reservation led by Manoj Jarange Patil has reached a resolution today. The regulation adopted today provides the solution to all problems. Manoj Jarange Patil has announced that since the resolution has been received, there is no need to continue the protests. CM Eknath Shinde will end Manoj Jarange Patil's fast with juice. The movement has reached a solution,” Lodha said on Friday.

On May 5, 2021, the Supreme Court invalidated reservations for the Maratha community in colleges, higher education institutions and jobs. The court observed that there was no valid justification for exceeding the 50 percent reservation limit while granting reservations to Maratha.