The health condition of Maratha quota agitation spearhead Manoj Jarange, whose indefinite fast continued on the fifth day on Wednesday, deteriorated and he was was given intravenous (IV) fluids when he was asleep during the protest, an activist close to him said.
Jarange has been on the hunger strike at his native Antarwali Sarati village in Maharashtra’s Jalna district demanding inclusion of the Maratha community into the Other Backward Class (OBC).
Agitated on learning about being given IV fluids without his knowledge, Jarange said if the government wants to provide medical treatment to him, it should implement the Maratha reservation immediately or else he would again go to Mumbai for another round of protest.
Earlier in the day, he also warned that no public meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be allowed to be held in Maharashtra if his demands were not met.
“Those who gave me IV fluids when I was asleep, are now responsible for implementation of Maratha quota. If our own people do this, then how will we get reservation for the Maratha community. The government will just sit and enjoy. They will think that my own people won’t let me die by injecting IV fluids,” he told reporters.
“If the government wants to provide treatment to me, they should implement the Maratha reservation in the next two days. If that does not happen, I shall go to Mumbai again and continue with my indefinite fast,” he added. He said the government was neither allowing him to die nor fulfilling his demand for reservation.
Kishor Markad, a Maratha activist who is monitoring Jarange’s health, said local villagers decided to seek medical intervention as Jarange’s condition worsened due to dehydration.
This is the fourth time in less than a year that Jarange has been observing a hunger strike demanding the inclusion of the Maratha community into the OBC grouping.
Among other things, Jarange has sought that a special session of the Maharashtra legislature be convened to convert the draft notification on ‘blood relatives’ of Kunbi Marathas into a law, warning the government.
Jarange said earlier in the day, “In Ramayana, Lord Hanuman set Lanka on fire. If I die during my protest, the Marathas will turn Maharashtra into Lanka.”
Meanwhile, reacting to Jarange’s warning of not allowing PM Modi’s rallies, Union minister Narayan Rane hit out at him, saying that he has crossed all limits.
“Manoj Jarange made a loose and senseless comment that he would make it difficult for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit any place in Maharashtra. He has crossed all limits. I dare you to even move from your place when PM Modi visits Maharashtra. I do not consider him a leader of Marathas,” Rane, himself a prominent Maratha leader of Maharashtra BJP, said in a post on X.
“It seems he has had some mental shock and he is making comments that do not make any sense,” the former chief minister said, adding that the activist should know his “limited worth” and “stay in bed.”
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