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By:

Ashok Rane

27 August 2024 at 10:18:04 am

What Others Could Not Do, Devabhao Accomplished

For the past five years, the issue of Maratha reservation has been a burning topic in progressive Maharashtra. Since August 29, during...

What Others Could Not Do, Devabhao Accomplished

For the past five years, the issue of Maratha reservation has been a burning topic in progressive Maharashtra. Since August 29, during the festive season in Mumbai, the Maratha reservation movement had drawn the attention of the entire nation. Some anti-Maharashtra invisible forces, aiming to tarnish the festive atmosphere, were preparing to exploit the protests at Azad Maidan for political gains. Seeing the unrest among the protesters in Mumbai, there was widespread apprehension across Maharashtra that the state might erupt into chaos. However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis resolved the long-pending and complex issue of Maratha reservation, which had lingered for forty years, in a just manner without causing injustice to any community. Moreover, during the festive season, he ensured that social harmony and peace prevailed in Maharashtra. For this, Maharashtra will forever remain indebted to Devendra Fadnavis. In truth, Sharad Pawar had a historic opportunity to secure reservations for the Maratha community and pave the way for their progress. When the Mandal Commission was being implemented, the authority to decide which castes should receive reservations rested with the respective state chief ministers. At that time, Sharad Pawar was a prominent leader in Maharashtra. Given his stature, he must have been aware of the deprivation faced by ordinary Marathas and their dire need for development. However, why and how this issue was neglected remains an unsolved mystery. It is clear that Maratha protesters at Azad Maidan were enraged at Sharad Pawar, likely due to this tendency to overlook the community's grievances. On July 13, 2016, a horrific and inhumane incident of assault on a minor girl occurred in Kopardi, Ahmednagar district. In protest against this incident, fifty-eight silent Maratha marches were held across Maharashtra. It was through these silent marches that the issue of Maratha reservation gained prominence, and Manoj Jarange Patil emerged as a leader, with Antarwali Sarati becoming the epicenter of the Maratha reservation movement. The late Annasaheb Patil had also led a movement for Maratha reservation in Mumbai in 1982. On March 22, 1982, he organized a march in Mumbai, and when it became evident that the demand for Maratha reservation would not be met, he sacrificed his life for the cause on March 23, 1982. Considering Maharashtra's social fabric, there was a widespread desire among all communities in the state that the Maratha community should receive a legally sound reservation. Unfortunately, the powerful and wealthy leaders of political parties, including many from the Maratha community, lacked the will to resolve the Maratha reservation issue. As mentioned earlier, Sharad Pawar had several opportunities to address this, but no efforts were made to open the doors of progress through reservations. Instead, leaders like Manohar Joshi and Purushottam Khedekar, or later Devendra Fadnavis and Manoj Jarange Patil, were accused of inciting Maratha youth by fueling caste-based fervor and misleading them. Over the past three decades, Purushottam Khedekar’s organizations have engaged in similar activities. For the last forty to fifty years, Maratha political leadership has kept the reservation issue unresolved, using it as a political tool to keep Maharashtra unstable. This is the harsh reality of the Maratha reservation struggle. When MP Supriya Sule visited Azad Maidan, Maratha youth, chanting that Sharad Pawar had betrayed the Marathas, expressed their anger by throwing bottles at her vehicle, showing the Pawar family their place. As the situation at Azad Maidan grew tense during the festive season, and to prevent any damage to Maharashtra’s social harmony, the composed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis resolved the hunger strike at Azad Maidan. Without any fanfare, through extensive research and behind-the-scenes efforts, he successfully addressed the Maratha reservation issue, which had been languishing for fifty years. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the entire state of Maharashtra is truly relieved today. By making the right decision at the right time, Devendra Fadnavis also thwarted the plans of those attempting to push Maharashtra into anarchy during the festive season. The Entire Maharashtra is Relieved Since August 29, Manoj Jarange Patil began a hunger strike at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, pressing for certain demands related to Maratha reservation. Lakhs of protesters from every corner of Maharashtra converged in Mumbai. Due to some inconveniences or alleged mismanagement on the first day, discontent and unrest grew among the protesters. Certain invisible forces sought to exploit this discontent, amplifying it through media and social media. Efforts were made to escalate the Maratha agitation at Azad Maidan, incite riots, and create a vertical divide within Hindu society. Some individuals publicly supported the Maratha movement at Azad Maidan. Leaders like Imtiaz Jaleel of the AIMIM, who opposed the renaming of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Nagar and glorified the fanatic Aurangzeb, and Abu Azmi, who downplayed Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje’s sacrifice, visited Azad Maidan to express solidarity with the Maratha reservation movement. An individual named Paigambar Sheikh posted on social media, urging mosques to open for Marathas, attempting to add fuel to the fire. The visits and support from Imtiaz Jaleel and Abu Azmi were seen as attempts to create a divide within Hindu society, particularly among Marathas and other communities, and to trouble the Devendra Fadnavis government. (The writer is a resident of Akola. Views personal.)

Uncle-Nephew Alliance Shaping Political Future

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Uncle-Nephew Alliance Shaping Political Future

When I met Shyamsunder (name changed), a full-time loyalist and Man Friday of a certain political heavyweight cabinet minister from New Delhi, he was bursting with enthusiasm. He confided that his boss had been holding very important closed-door meetings with prominent leaders of key political parties in Maharashtra last week. One meeting he admits stretched well for over two hours, and if things go well as planned, his boss may be the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

The two-hour meeting of this cabinet minister, he says, is part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s plan to bring his boss to Maharashtra to collaborate with another heavyweight Maratha strongman in the state to form the new government post the upcoming state assembly elections. The base of this collaboration is not political compromise or newfound trust but a business joint venture of supply of auto components with foreign investment between the companies of both the cabinet minister and the Maratha leader, which, according to Shyamsunder, is valued over crores. With the two already in a business partnership with each other, it makes sense for them to politically align as well.

Not hard work, not talent, but dynasties and connections will once again play a role in the appointment of the next Chief Minister of one of the richest states of the country. The cabinet minister, with strong connections to Nagpur (the base of the RSS), is interestingly also said to be the nephew of one of the key leaders of the RSS and is expected to take over the new position once the assembly state elections are over.

Maharashtra has been and will always remain an important state for the BJP, as it brings in well over 40% of the revenue of the entire country. The status of a Chief Minister of Maharashtra, says Shyamsunder, is almost equal to that of being a Deputy Prime Minister of India, and with the list of contenders rising within the BJP and its coalition partners, it was time to devise a new plan to stop this ‘race’ by bringing in a veteran face that would not only be accepted across all parties (even new coalition partners) but would also put in place any ambitious leaders within the BJP.

If this happens, one can expect to see changes in the political fortunes of many prominent leaders not only within the BJP and RSS but also with other political parties and their factions as well.

With the delay in seat-sharing formulas between political parties of both Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi and Mahayuti taking longer than expected, more leaders within the BJP are expected to defect over the next few days. The exit of BJP leader Samarjitsingh Ghatge to Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party is only the beginning.

The RSS has always been known to be one step ahead in planning and executing political strategies both for the organisation and the state. The BJP has been largely supported by the RSS, its parent body. Although RSS office bearers may deny the relation between the two, a large number of BJP party workers over the years have been promoted and elevated to various political positions with the support of the RSS. A book by the organisation titled ‘About RSS—Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’ mentions that the RSS was established in 1925 and conducts social work across all states and districts of the country through its 40,000 shakhas.

Interestingly, an excerpt from the book reads, ‘The RSS has its own vision and concept about our national development. And our Swayamsevaks naturally are inclined to political parties who share this Sangh view and will be supportive of them.’ As the BJP shares this vision of the RSS, naturally, it receives the cooperation and the backing of Swayamsewaks. And judging from the plans currently in motion, it looks like the whole nation is Maharashtra for now!

(The is a senior jounalist. Views personal.)

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