Final Up to date:August 30, 2025, 11:11 IST
The Maharashtra chief minister should steadiness 3 explosive forces without delay: Maratha impatience, the OBC insecurity, and the delicate coalition arithmetic that glues Mahayuti collectively
(Left) CM Devendra Fadnavis and (proper) Manoj Jarange-Patil. (PTI)
When Manoj Jarange-Patil sits on a starvation strike, Maharashtra listens. At Mumbai’s Azad Maidan this week, the Maratha quota activist as soon as once more drew 1000’s, turning a routine weekday right into a visitors nightmare and a political storm. For the Mahayuti authorities, the message is blunt: half-baked options and hurried bulletins can not comprise a decades-old demand that has repeatedly outpaced the state’s creativeness.
The federal government’s dilemma is apparent. On paper, the coalition has acted. In February 2024, a ten per cent quota for Marathas was handed within the Meeting with uncommon velocity. The Shinde-Fadnavis-Pawar alliance hailed it as a “historic achievement”. However scratch beneath the floor, and it seems extra like a authorized gamble than a everlasting reply. The courts have struck down related makes an attempt earlier than. Nothing within the state’s defence at the moment means that this time shall be completely different.
Parallel to this legislative leap is the Kunbi certificates experiment—an administrative workaround that enables Marathas to entry advantages by the OBC class. Right here too, the execution falters. The Justice Sandeep Shinde committee exists, functions are being processed, and but 1000’s stay caught in limbo. For Jarange, who has been mobilising villages for months, that is proof that guarantees with out supply are meaningless. His demand for Kunbi standing for all Marathas could also be excessive, nevertheless it resonates as a result of belief has eroded.
And that is the place Devendra Fadnavis looms giant. Being the chief minister, Fadnavis carries the burden of the coalition’s problem-solver. He should steadiness three explosive forces without delay: the Maratha impatience, the OBC insecurity, and the delicate coalition arithmetic that glues Mahayuti collectively. It’s a tightrope act that even his political acumen could battle to handle if the basics stay unresolved.
The dealing with of the Azad Maidan quick mirrored this unease. Limiting Jarange’s protest timings to sunlight hours could have made administrative sense, nevertheless it additionally uncovered the federal government. It gave Jarange the ethical excessive floor—he framed it as an “insult”. As soon as once more, the state appeared reactive. Lastly, the federal government lengthen the deadline by a day however Jarange’s message was clear: “This is the final showdown. Till the time Marathas get reservation, I won’t quit fasting. Either we get reservation, or I die here.”
The Opposition has latched on to the chance. Uddhav Thackeray projected Jarange’s protest as a struggle for “legitimate rights”, whereas the Congress painted the agitation as proof that the Mahayuti can not govern decisively.
The Maratha agitation is now not nearly reservation—it’s about governance credibility. Each time the state broadcasts a quota or a brand new committee, and each time it fails to see it by, it chips away at public belief. That vacuum is what Jarange exploits, and that’s the reason his protests proceed to search out resonance.
If the Mahayuti is severe about fixing the disaster, it should transcend bulletins. It should publish a transparent authorized technique, guarantee clear and time-bound processing of Kunbi certificates and—most significantly—open structured dialogue with each Maratha and OBC communities. Something much less will solely push the issue ahead till it returns, bigger and angrier.
At its core, that is the federal government’s drawback. Jarange is merely the mirror. What it displays is a state that has mastered political velocity however not coverage stability. Till that adjustments, starvation strikes will maintain changing into headlines, and governance will maintain trying like firefighting.
Information politics Why Jarange-Patil’s Starvation Strike Will Be Take a look at Of Fadnavis’s Balancing Act
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