The ruling alliance in Maharashtra wants to persuade the Maratha quota activist to at least defer the protest, if not call it off entirely

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Prasad Lad on Friday reached out to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil and assured him that the Devendra Fadnavis-led government would take the necessary steps to fulfil his pending demands.

The meeting follows Jarange-Patil’s announcement of plans to go on an indefinite hunger strike from May 30 at Antarwali Sarati in Jalna.

Lad told Jarange-Patil that he would discuss his points with the government

“I am confident that Jarange-Patil will be satisfied with the efforts being made by the government to address the demands of the Maratha community. I told the activist that no other government has done as much for the Maratha community as the Fadnavis government has. I stand with the Maratha community and, as a member of the community, I will not hesitate to give up my membership in the Legislative Council,” said Lad, a member of the state legislative council.

A government functionary said the outreach comes against the backdrop of a view in the government that it was best to avoid any development that spotlights public discontentment. He said the ruling alliance wanted to persuade the Maratha quota activist to at least defer the protest, if not call it off entirely.

Jarange-Patil announced the indefinite strike nine months after his Mumbai protest to press for demands related to reservation for the Maratha community. Following the meeting with Lad on Friday, the Maratha quota activist said that the assurances related to Maratha reservation, made during his Mumbai protest in August last year, had still not been implemented by the government.

“The state government issued government resolutions for the implementation of the Hyderabad gazette records and for issuing Kunbi certificates to all Marathas, but the implementation process has lost pace. Kunbi certificates are not being issued, and district-level officials claim they have directions from the chief minister not to issue them. Validity certificates are also not being issued to Maratha students who have applied on the basis of Kunbi certificates,” he said.