Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, a descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will announce the next step in the community’s agitation for reservation in education and government jobs on Sunday. On the occasion of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s coronation day anniversary, Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati will attend a function at Raigad Fort in Mahad, Raigad district, Maharashtra on Sunday.
Last month, the legislator issued an ultimatum to the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, demanding a number of things, including review and curative petitions in the Supreme Court against the government’s decision to scrap the quota, as well as a petition to the Centre for the reservation. Other demands made by Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati included hostel facilities and scholarships for the community’s students, as well as the revival of Pune-based SARTHI to ensure the Maratha youth’s educational and social well-being.
The Maharashtra law granting quotas to the Maratha community in education and government jobs was declared “unconstitutional” by the Supreme Court on May 5. People from the community cannot be declared educationally and socially backward simply to place them in the reserved category, according to the Supreme Court. It also ruled that there were no exceptional circumstances that justified exceeding the Mandal Commission case’s 50 percent reservation cap set in 1992.
Maratha outfits have been protesting for reservation, and the Maratha Kranti Morcha staged an agitation in Beed on Saturday, led by Vinayak Mete, the chief of the Shiv Sangram party, a BJP ally. According to Mete, the community will take to the streets in large numbers because the state government is unconcerned about their concerns.
The state government, on the other hand, claims to have taken every possible step to ensure the reservation. The opposition BJP is politicising the issue, according to Maharashtra Congress general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant.
