Manoj Jarange, one of the most prominent Maratha quota agitators in Maharashtra, began his 11th hunger strike on Wednesday at Antarwali Sarati in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, pressing the state government to issue Kunbi caste certificates to all verified applicants from the Maratha community. The protest, which began in the activist’s home village, represents the latest escalation in a years-long agitation over affirmative action benefits in the state.
Jarange’s central demand is the issuance of Kunbi certificates to approximately 58 lakh applicants whose records have already been verified by authorities, according to The Hindu. The Kunbi certificate is the key document through which Maratha applicants seek access to reservations and other affirmative action benefits available to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in Maharashtra. Without the certificate, verified applicants cannot access OBC benefits in education and government employment.
What Happened
Jarange launched the indefinite fast at Antarwali Sarati, a village that has become the symbolic epicentre of the Maratha quota movement. The activist has framed the current protest as a direct confrontation with the state government over what he describes as the inordinate delay in processing verified applications for Kunbi certificates. The hunger strike is the 11th undertaken by Jarange since the movement gained momentum, underscoring both the persistence of the agitation and the absence of a settlement acceptable to him.
The renewed protest comes amid heightened political attention to the Maratha reservation issue, with the state government under pressure to balance competing legal, electoral and social considerations. Previous hunger strikes by Jarange have drawn large gatherings of supporters to Antarwali Sarati, and the current fast is expected to draw a similar response.
Why It Matters
The Maratha quota question has been one of the most consequential and contested affirmative action debates in Maharashtra, a state where caste categories are closely tied to political representation, access to public sector employment, and admissions to higher education. The demand for Kunbi certificates represents a particular legal and administrative strategy: rather than seeking a separate Maratha quota, the movement argues that a significant section of the Maratha community historically shares kinship, occupational patterns and social standing with the Kunbi community, which is classified as an OBC.
If implemented at the scale demanded by Jarange, the mass issuance of Kunbi certificates would reshape the OBC landscape in Maharashtra. The category has been a source of political dispute between OBC groups, who fear dilution of their reservation share, and Maratha organisations, who argue that their community has faced educational and social backwardness not reflected in existing classifications. The demand therefore sits at the intersection of caste politics, administrative law and judicial precedent, with consequences for hundreds of thousands of applicants.
Background and Context
The Maratha agitation for affirmative action has a turbulent legal history in Maharashtra. Earlier rounds of the movement led to the enactment of a Maharashtra law granting reservation to the Maratha community, a measure that was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2021 on the ground that it exceeded the permissible limits on reservation set out in the Constitution. The ruling did not, however, end the political or social pressure for a resolution, and the demand shifted in significant measure to the Kunbi certificate route.
The Kunbi community is a historically agrarian caste group classified among the OBCs in Maharashtra. Activists aligned with Jarange have argued that records such as pre-Independence gazetteers, revenue documents and other archival material show that a portion of the Maratha community was historically recorded as Kunbi, and that this continuity entitles contemporary Maratha applicants to the same OBC status. State-level processes to scrutinise such claims have, by official accounts, resulted in a substantial number of verified records, which now form the core of Jarange’s demand.
The activist’s choice of Antarwali Sarati as the protest site is itself significant. The village, located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, has served as the hub of several earlier phases of the agitation, giving the movement a durable rural base. Jarange’s previous hunger strikes from the same location have produced both moments of political negotiation and episodes of tension, including disputes with the administration over the conditions of the protest.
The political stakes extend across party lines in Maharashtra. Ruling and opposition parties have, at various points, sought to support, channel or restrain the Maratha quota movement, mindful of the community’s electoral weight and the reaction of OBC groupings that oppose any expansion of Maratha-specific benefits. The Maharashtra government’s response to the latest fast is therefore being watched as a test of its capacity to manage competing caste constituencies.
Analysis:
The strategic shift toward Kunbi certificates reflects an effort to pursue reservation through a legal pathway less vulnerable to the constitutional ceiling that invalidated the earlier Maratha-specific law. Because OBC status is independently classified and not subject to the same aggregate cap in the same way, the route offers both a possible legal foothold and a way to avoid the broader political confrontation triggered by an explicit Maratha quota. The approach, however, places substantial weight on documentary proof of historical Kunbi identity, a category that is itself the subject of dispute among historians, administrators and caste groups.
Analysis:
The numerical scale of the demand, encompassing 58 lakh verified applicants, indicates that the administrative apparatus required to issue certificates at this volume is itself a major implementation challenge. Even if the political decision to issue the certificates were made, questions would arise about the speed of issuance, the integrity of the verification process and the legal exposure of the state if certificates are later challenged. The government therefore faces a decision matrix that combines political, administrative and judicial risk, with no option that satisfies all constituencies simultaneously.
What to Watch Next
Several indicators will shape how the protest develops in the coming days and weeks. The first is the size and duration of the sit-in at Antarwali Sarati; previous fasts have drawn thousands of supporters and put direct pressure on the state through sustained public attention. The second is the response of the Maharashtra government, including whether ministers or senior officials engage with the protesters, whether any procedural step is taken to accelerate the issuance of certificates, and whether the administration imposes any restrictions on the protest.
Court proceedings related to the verification process and to the legal status of certificates already issued will also be significant, as will the position of OBC groups who have previously opposed the categorisation of Marathas within the OBC fold. Finally, the role of opposition political parties, both within and outside the state, will be a factor in determining whether the issue is allowed to be resolved administratively or is driven back into wider political contestation.
Conclusion
Jarange’s 11th hunger strike marks a renewed phase in one of Maharashtra’s most consequential caste movements, with the activist placing his demand for 58 lakh Kunbi certificates squarely before the state government. The protest is unlikely to be resolved quickly, given the legal complexity of the OBC route, the political sensitivities surrounding caste categories and the administrative scale of the demand. The outcome of the current fast will shape not only the immediate trajectory of the Maratha quota movement but also the broader framework of affirmative action in Maharashtra for years to come.
Analysis:
The longer-term significance of the agitation lies in whether the Kunbi certificate route produces a durable legal and administrative settlement or merely becomes another step in a serial conflict between the state, the courts and Maratha organisations. Each previous phase of the movement has produced partial answers that have not satisfied the principal demand, a pattern that the 11th fast is explicitly intended to break.
Sources
The Hindu: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/maharashtra/maratha-activist-manoj-jarange-begins-fast-over-kunbi-certificates/article71403748.ece
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Story synopsis gathered from: The Hindu – National — source
