Jarange ends 20-day fast, gives Maharashtra three months to act on Maratha quota

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange called off his 20-day-old hunger strike on Thursday, September 17, 2026, at Patoda in Beed district, after a Maharashtra government delegation met him and outlined the steps being taken on his demands. He has, however, set a three-month deadline, warning that he will take his agitation to Mumbai if there is no movement.

The delegation included Ministers Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Dada Bhuse, MLC Prasad Lad, MLA Suresh Dhas and senior officials. It met Mr. Jarange at Patoda, where he had halted on his way to Mumbai.

The meeting followed remarks by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who said his government would not tolerate intimidating tactics and questioned the timing of the agitation during the Ganesh festival.

Mr. Vikhe Patil told Mr. Jarange that work on the Kolhapur and Satara gazettes would take about three to four months, once a written comment is received from the Advocate General. He suggested that the activist depute three representatives to monitor the progress of official work on his demands, and urged him to end the fast.

Mr. Jarange said he remains firm on his demand for official recognition of historical administrative records — the Hyderabad Gazette, the Satara Gazette and the Aundh Gazette — so that Marathas can establish Kunbi lineage and claim reservation benefits available to Other Backward Classes.

"The government should give in writing that not a single Kunbi record will be ignored. The Chief Minister should sign that paper," he said.

He added that he would resume the protest in Mumbai if the assurance given to him is not honoured. "If we are betrayed in the next three months, then we all will directly go to Mumbai, along with our children and women," he said. He also asked the more than one lakh Marathas who had already reached Mumbai to return to their homes.

Mr. Jarange set out from his village, Antarwali Sarati, in Jalna district, and was scheduled to reach Mumbai on September 19 after passing through Ahilyanagar, Pune and Khopoli in Raigad district.

This is not the first time his agitation has shaped the quota debate in the State. Last year, his hunger strike at Azad Maidan brought South Mumbai to a standstill as thousands of supporters gathered in the city. That protest was called off on September 2, 2025, after the government accepted six of his eight demands and began the process of issuing Kunbi classification certificates.

The Maratha community has long sought reservation, and the Kunbi route — under which Marathas who can prove agrarian Kunbi lineage are treated as OBCs — has been central to the dispute. The demand for recognition of old administrative records is aimed at making that claim easier to establish.

The government's position so far has been that the matter involves verification of records and legal opinion, which takes time. Mr. Jarange's decision to suspend the fast and pursue talks through representatives shifts the immediate pressure from the streets to official files, but the three-month deadline keeps the possibility of a fresh mobilisation open.