Four days after the state government proposed to grant quotas to a subset of the Maratha community, Manoj JarangePatil, who is leading the charge for quotas, announced that he had given up water and intravenous support, attempting to put even more pressure on the government to accept his demand of bringing the entire community under the other backward classes (OBC) umbrella.
But any such move was opposed by OBC groups and Kunbis the subset of the Maratha community that is already classified as backward - who fear that the influential community that makes up roughly a third of the state's population will eat into their share.
The government appeared caught between the two sets of demonstrations, and called for an all-party meeting on Monday - the first time the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena administration has sought to understand the views of opposition parties since the protests first surfaced roughly two weeks ago.
"We have made all possible efforts to end Jarange-Patil's hunger strike but he refused to call it off," said deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Pune on Sunday.
The demand for quotas by Marathas is decades old, but in 2018, the state government granted 16% reservation in the face of sweeping protests. It was slashed to 13% in jobs and 12% in education by the Bombay high court. In 2021, the Supreme Court quashed the move.
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