OBC outfits intensify agitation over fear of sharing quota benefits with Marathas

OBC Mahasangh protests in Nagpur for 11 days, demanding govt. dialogue & written commitment to their demands. BJP & Congress leaders urge protestors to accept govt. invite & join talks. Dhangar community stages rasta roko in Satara, demanding to be included in ST category.

Even as pro-Maratha quota groups staged demonstrations across Maharashtra, a parallel protest by the Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh, representing the interest of the other backward classes, continued in Nagpur on Wednesday, with OBC community leaders remaining firm on their objection to granting OBC Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former MLA Ashish Deshmukh, in a bid to defuse the situation, met the OBC protestors on Wednesday, and invited them to hold talks with the government.

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The Mahasangh leaders have made it clear that they will not cease their protest until the State Government initiates a dialogue and offers a written commitment to their demands.

Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe, too, joined the OBC protestors who have been insisting that their benefits should not be sacrificed by the government for the sake of giving the Marathas a quota.

“This protest [Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh] has been going on for 11 days now. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, too, had called on the agitators and assured that the OBC quota would remain intact. It is my request to the protestors that as CM Eknath Shinde and both Deputy CMs are willing to discuss the matter, they ought to accept the government’s invite and participate in the talks,” Mr. Deshmukh said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Londhe, who shared the dais with Mr. Deshmukh despite being from opposing parties, said the Maratha quota agitation protests and the counter-protests by the OBCs that have erupted, were “not a matter of politics”.