The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed the Maratha Reservation Bill, which was tabled in the house during the special session that began earlier today. The bill, which seeks to extend 10 per cent reservation to Marathas above the 50 per cent cap, was passed unanimously.

Vijay Wadettiwar, who is the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly, said that the Opposition parties support the Maratha community’s reservation demand.

The Maratha Reservation Bill will now be tabled in the state Legislative council and if passed, it will become a law.

“We all are of similar views here on the Maratha reservation so I will not make may political statement here. With the co-operation of you all, we could do it. I kept my promise which I made to the Maratha community. I thank all my colleagues including my both DCMs and other ministers. Today is a day of fulfilment of our promises,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said.

“Our aim was to work on a war footing, day and night, to bring this issue to a proper conclusion. The Maharashtra government is fully committed to giving reservation to the Marathas and today we are doing this. Devendra ji and Ajit Pawar ji always used to tell me that by whatever means we have to give reservation to the Maratha community. Devendra ji had once given reservation to the Maratha community while being the Chief Minister and that reservation was also upheld in the High Court. But unfortunately for some reason it was struck down by the honorable Supreme Court” the CM further stated.

“Therefore, this time we have reconstituted the Backward Classes Commission and conducted a survey as per the order of the Supreme Court and after collecting the necessary data, we are now planning to give them reservation. We have tried to fulfil the rules and regulations in every way and now we are ready to give this reservation,” he added.

OBC community members stage protests

Earlier in the day, members of the OBC community staged a protest against the “unfair” decision of CM Shinde to give their reservation to Maratha community.

They said that while they are not against the Maratha quota demand but it was wrong to take reservation from the OBC community.

“We are not against Maratha reservation but Manoj Jarange’s demand to take reservation from OBC is wrong. He blackmailed the government to end the political reservation of OBC. The government can give separate reservations to Marathas but OBC reservation should not be given…,” said one of the protesting members of the OBC community.