'After Manoj Jarange Patil began his long march towards Mumbai on January 20, he kept increasing his demands and the government meekly surrendered to him.'
"One can only conclude that the government is appeasing the Marathas to win their favour in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections," senior journalist and political commentator Prasad Mokashi tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.
Will a large section of Marathas really get the benefit of reservations just because the government has issued the GR accepting the inclusion of words sage-soyre?
It is very doubtful that the Marathas will really benefit out of it at all. How much proportionate reservation will come into the kitty of different sections of OBCs, including the Marathas now, because of this GR will have to be studied carefully.
The government will definitely suffer the ill-consequences of this GR if it becomes evident that it was issued only to appease the politically dominant Maratha caste and no significant gains fall into the lap of the Marathas.
After Manoj Jarange Patil began his long march towards Mumbai from Antarwali Sarati on January 20, he consistently kept on increasing his demands on his way to Mumbai and the government sort of meekly surrendered to him.
If you carefully study the trajectory of MJP's agitation you would realise that this was a government-sponsored agitation. This government, while it ignored many such agitations earlier, showed lot of keenness to engage and entertain MJP's demands.
The Shinde government actively encouraged MJP ever since he gained popularity in the wake of the lathi-charge on his supporters at Antarwali Sarati on August 29, 2023, and after that both MJP and Shinde began scratching each other's back.
It was like Shinde telling MJP that we will hoodwink people by creating a perception that we are tough on you and you make a hue and cry about it.
One can only conclude that the government is appeasing the Marathas to win their favour in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.
How will the government benefit from this show of appeasement?
It is now open that the government has meekly surrendered before MJP or else it would not have accepted all his demands in toto.
The survey conducted by the government, the (Sandeep) Shinde committee (which has now been given a two month extension as part of the understanding between MJP and the government) appointed by the government only exposes how soft it was towards MJP.
The government and its three constituents (Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, the BJP and Ajit Pawar's NCP) want to increase the count of their elected representatives riding on the back of MJP's agitation.
A sham was played out (by Shinde and MJP) to show that the agitators were in control of the fight for reservations and successfully corner the government over this issue, which in turn would blindly accept all the demands of the agitators without actually giving anything material to the agitators.
The entire exercise was carried out to delay the reservations to Marathas till the eve of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections and then offer a lollipop to mollycoddle the Marathas.
You said the MJP's agitation is sponsored by the government. Could you explain what do you mean?
MJP and his supporters, during their march towards Mumbai, consistently threatened the government that they would not be responsible for any disruption of law and order after they reach Mumbai's Azad Maidan on January 26 and that they would not withdraw their agitation under any circumstance if their demands are not met.
What measures were being undertaken by the state home department, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, to neutralise these threats coming from a 2 lakh strong agitators?
Why did MJP get so much leeway to issue such threats without fearing the consequences?
Why was no action taken against him by the home department?
Why does this government adopt a stern approach towards others who agitate for reservations?
Since one does not get answers to such questions one is given to doubt the intention of this government.
Has MJP emerged as a hero after the government's surrender before the Marathas?
He has successfully created an impression that Marathas have no other leaders except himself who they can trust. His last-minute demand, which he made during his victory speech, that the government should provide free education to all the Marathas till they start getting reservation benefits on the ground only shows what he is capable of doing.
Is one to say that Marathas did not get any educational benefits before he emerged on the scene?
He also demanded that all the cases against those involved in the violence against the OBCs last year be withdrawn and the government has hinted at accepting this demand as well.
All this only indicates that MJP was encouraged to make such unjustifiable demands and assured that the government would accept it.
Will the Marathas actually benefit from the GR and will it become effective before the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections?
Doesn't look like the implementation will happen any time before the elections, but a message has gone to the Marathas that the government has ceded ground to the demands made by them.
Many of these demands would need at least three-four months to get implemented if the government is serious about it, but then it would all depend upon the legal challenges this GR would face in the days ahead.
If you look at the demands related to admission to educational institutions then no admissions will be happening before May-June (2024 when the academic year starts). About Marathas getting reservations in government jobs, one does not see any vacancies being announced or any recruitment drive happening in government institutions.
The Marathas, who have till now applied for jobs in the open category, will now have to redo the entire recruitment formalities and apply under the reserved category. All this takes lot of time.
The government knows all this will lead to lot of delays and it is happy about it because it serves the purpose of delaying the proceedings till after the next elections in which it expects to reap the benefits of Maratha votes.
Don't you think the Marathas too understand these delaying tactics? How would they vote if the GR doesn't transform into real, tangible benefits at the ground level?
Will the Maratha votes split given that they are traditional voters of the NCP and Sharad Pawar but could now move towards Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena after he handed over the GR to MJP at a public rally?
All the prominent leaders in Maharashtra are responsible for MJP emerging as an influential Maratha leader. They have all nurtured and nourished him expecting to reap benefits from his popularity.
It is the leaders from the Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress, BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) who are responsible for making him so big. It will now depend upon MJP who he favours more.
Just like certain leaders and their political parties benefitted because of the Anna Hazare agitation (in 2010 against corruption in UPA II), MJP's agitation would also have political beneficiaries.
However, the entire society and the state will face the consequences of this agitation, in the way it was handled and its final outcome would leave no real beneficiaries.
