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Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil ends fast, gives Maharashtra 3 months to consider demands
He ended the 20-day hunger strike after a Maharashtra government delegation informed him about the steps it had initiated to meet the demands.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Thursday called off his hunger strike, but warned the Maharashtra government that he would launch a protest in Mumbai if his demands for reservations for the community were not considered within three months, PTI reported.
Jarange-Patil had been on an indefinite hunger strike since August 29 to press for the issuance of Kunbi caste certificates to eligible members of the Maratha community to help them avail reservations in government jobs and education.
The Kunbis form a sub-caste within the Maratha community. They are included in the Other Backward Classes.
Jarange-Patil’s announcement on Thursday came after he held talks with a government delegation comprising two ministers, legislators and officials in Beed district. The activist had halted in Beed while on his way to Mumbai.
The delegation informed Jarange-Patil about the step the government had initiated.
This came after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the state government would not tolerate intimidating tactics and questioned the timing of the agitation during the Ganesh festival.
On Saturday, Jarange-Patil announced that he and his supporters will begin a march to Mumbai to hold an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan from September 19. The announcement came on the same day that the Bombay High Court refused to issue an order against it.
In August 2025, Jarange-Patil and his supporters had launched an indefinite hunger strike in Mumbai to reiterate his demand for quotas for the Marathas under the Other Backward Classes category.
The High Court had observed at the time that Mumbai “had been practically brought to a standstill” because of the protests.
Jarange-Patil had broken his fast on September 2, 2025, after the Maharashtra administration issued a government resolution to give Kunbi status to Marathas of Marathwada.
On Saturday, the activist began the fresh hunger strike, alleging that the state government had failed to honour assurances given in September 2025 and again during his protest in May this year.
The Maratha community’s long-standing demand for reservations in education and government jobs resurfaced in 2023 with protests led by Jarange-Patil. The movement witnessed violence, suicides and the resignations of legislators.
In February 2024, the Maharashtra legislature passed a bill allowing for the creation of a 10% quota in government jobs and education for the Marathas. This would be in addition to the state’s 52% reservation quota, which includes a 10% quota for the Economically Weaker Sections.
The introduction of the 10% quota is similar to the 16% quota for Marathas under the Other Backward Classes category that was introduced in 2018 by the state government at the time comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party and the undivided Shiv Sena.
That decision was blocked by the Supreme Court in 2021, citing the 50% cap on a state’s total reservations that the court had ordered in 1992. The court said that there were no “exceptional circumstances” or “extraordinary situation” in Maharashtra for the state to breach the limit on quotas.
Jarange-Patil has insisted that reservations for Marathas be given under the Other Backward Classes category, on the grounds that the separate quota exceeds the constitutional ceiling of 50% and would likely be struck down by the judiciary.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.