Activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Saturday launched his ninth indefinite hunger strike, intensifying pressure on the Maharashtra government to grant OBC reservation to the Maratha community.

What set this protest apart was Jarange’s decision to sit under the blazing summer sun without a canopy, declaring he was prepared to sacrifice his life for the cause.

The activist began his fast at 10am on an open ground at the Antarwali Sarati village in his native Jalna district in the Marathwada region.

He accused the state government of failing to honour the assurances it had made after his hunger strike on Mumbai’s Azad Maidan last September.

Jarange had called off that fast on the fifth day after claiming “victory” and asserting that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had accepted his key demand: the issuance of OBC “Kunbi” certificates to Marathas.

State water resources minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, who heads the cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation, rushed to the protest site on Saturday and urged Jarange to shift to a sheltered location. He sought more time to address his demands.

Jarange refused to relent. “The government should not subject the Maratha community to an agni pariksha (trial by fire). It must immediately fulfil the assurances it has given,” he told reporters.

Jarange’s demands include the issuance of Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas to enable them to secure OBC reservation, the implementation of the Hyderabad and Satara Gazette records to classify Marathas as Kunbis, the withdrawal of cases filed against Maratha quota agitators, and the creation of a separate ministry for the community.

Vikhe-Patil, who had met Jarange also on Friday to try and dissuade him from launching the agitation, handed over a draft report detailing the action the government had taken on the activist’s demands.

Speaking to reporters, the minister cited the legal hurdles to implementing some of the demands, particularly that relating to the Hyderabad and Satara Gazette records.

These records, dating back to the Nizam era, identify Marathas in parts of central Maharashtra as Kunbis, a peasant sub-caste recognised as OBC in the state.

“Legal experts have advised caution, as the government resolution issued to implement the Hyderabad Gazette records has already been challenged in court,” Vikhe-Patil said.

The politically influential Maratha community’s demand for reservation has been simmering for decades, but gained fresh momentum in 2023 with Jarange
emerging as the face of the movement.