The Maharashtra government had approved Maratha reservation by calling a special session of the assembly on 20 February.
Even after this, Manoj Jarange Patil, who was leading the Maratha movement, had warned that reservation had been given wrongly and he would go on a hunger strike for 17 days.
Earlier on January 25, when he reached Mumbai leading the movement, there was a crowd of thousands of youth with him.
Such a situation had arisen that the government was under pressure from Manoj Jarange Patil and was forced to accept his words. But by the end of February, some such developments took place that Manoj Jarange Patil has now calmed down.
Apart from this, BJP also seems to be free from the tension of Maratha movement. But the important question is how did this happen? Actually it started with a provocative statement by Manoj Jarange Patil. He had accused Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis that he could even get him murdered.
Apart from this, while making objectionable statements against him, he also threatened to surround his house. Devendra Fadnavis became strict on this statement and the Deputy CM, who holds the Home Ministry, ordered an SIT investigation into the violence in Beed. This violence had taken place during the earlier Maratha movement.
Apart from this, Nashik Police Commissioner Sandeep Karnik was given the responsibility as the head of SIT. He got three months time to investigate. On the same day, Pune Police registered a case against Jarange Patil and some other people. The allegation against them was that these people had taken out a rally on January 23 without permission.
There was no reaction from the Maratha community on this SIT investigation. This also weakened Manoj Patil’s morale a bit. Now he is not seen in action for the last few days. Manoj Jarange Patil, who was seen on Marathi channels 24 hours at a time, first postponed the decision to surround Fadnavis’s house on 27 February. The 17-day hunger strike was also withdrawn on the same day.
How did BJP pacify Manoj Jarange Patil?
Government sources say that Devendra Fadnavis and some other BJP leaders talked to Eknath Shinde on this issue. He said that you are promoting Manoj Patil and if this continues then we can end the relationship.
A BJP leader said, ‘Most of us believed that Manoj Jarange along with Shinde was supporting Patil’s movement. The police had also received some information about this.
After this we told Eknath Shinde that you cannot do this to strengthen your image under the guise of movement and create problems for our party. BJP said, ‘Our leadership also asked Shinde to give a public statement on Patil’s issue.’
The government also survived and the opposition also came on the back foot.
Only after this, Eknath Shinde had warned Manoj Jarange Patil to remain within limits. Action will be taken if it comes out. After this, when an investigation was ordered against Manoj Jarange Patil, those people of the alliance who were supporting them backed down.
Apart from this, Devendra Fadnavis played the OBC card in response to the demand for Maratha quota. The opposition also got confused regarding this and in the end it had to give up aggression on Maratha quota. In this way, by handling Manoj Jarange Patil, BJP saved the government and also pushed the opposition on the backfoot.