Leaders should not play Marathas off against OBCs: BJP leader Narayan Rane

Narayan Rane. File Pic

Union minister Narayan Rane on Thursday said that political leaders should not pit the Marathas and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) against each other, reported the PTI.

"No political leader should play the Marathas off against OBCs," BJP leader Narayan Rane said when asked by the reporters in Pune about Chhagan Bhujbal's stand, according to the PTI.

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"When I was heading a committee on (Maratha) reservation, I had given (recommended) 16 percent reservation. I did not touch the OBC quota. Marathas should get reservation as there are poor people in the community," the former chief minister said, as per the PTI.

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange "is still young" and should study how reservation is granted to any community under the Constitution, Narayan Rane said.

Marathas will not take quota from the OBCs (in the OBC category), he added.

The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal had recently received flak for saying that the existing OBC quota should not be touched while granting reservation to the Marathas.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Cabinet minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Tuesday said that he was not against any community, but asserted a social group has to fight to protect its rights, reported the PTI.

The comments comes in the backdrop of the ongoing agitation by the Marathas for reservation in government jobs and education, as per the PTI.

Chhagan Bhujbal, who has strongly opposed the demand to include the Marathas in the other backward classes (OBC) category for quota benefits, said a new social system is taking shape in Maharashtra which is different from the order envisaged by prominent social reformers.

The Maharashtra food and civil supplies minister, Chhagan Bhujbal was speaking at an award ceremony organised by his outfit Samta Parishad at Phule Wada.

"...Mahatma Phule, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj worked tirelessly to end the caste system and bring equality in society. But as I said, a new kind of social order is coming up in the state. You know what I mean. I will not reiterate. That (past) social order was different and today's social order is different. Nowadays, things like eligibility (layaki) and higher, lower status are being discussed," he said, taking potshots at Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange over his recent remarks, according to the PTI.

Manoj Jarange, spearheading the latest round of agitation seeking reservation for the Marathas in government jobs and education, said at a recent rally in Pune that in the absence of quota, his community's youths have no option but to work under "undeserving people". He later withdrew the comments, which invited strong criticism from OBC leaders.

(with PTI inputs)