Jarange's protest enters 3rd day as talks with govt fail

Activist Manoj Jarange's hunger strike in Mumbai to press for Maratha quota continued for the third day on Sunday, a day after the 43-year-old gave a cold shoulder to a government delegation which met him at Azad Maidan.

Mumbai Police on Saturday extended permission for Jarange's protest by another day.

Traffic in and around the Azad Maidan protest venue was hampered on Saturday, with the sea of protesters making the movement of vehicles difficult. Some protesters were even seen bathing on the roads.

The Maratha leader slammed Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for sending retired High Court judge Sandeep Shinde, who heads a committee set up to expedite the process of granting reservation to the community, to hold talks with him.

"It is not Justice Shinde's job to issue a Government Resolution (GR) announcing grant of reservation to Marathas," Jarange said on Saturday, vowing to continue the agitation.

While Fadnavis has said the government was trying to find a solution within the constitutional and legal framework, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar said a constitutional amendment to raise the cap on overall reservation was necessary.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government on Saturday deputed a delegation led by Justice Shinde to hold talks with Jarange, as thousands of his supporters who have arrived in Mumbai thronged the nearby Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and the surrounding area.

Jarange has been demanding a 10 per cent quota for Marathas and wants them to be recognised as Kunbis -- an agrarian caste included in the Other Backward Classes category -- which will make them eligible for reservation in government jobs and education, though OBC leaders are opposed to it.