Jarange ignored Kolhapur Gazetteer, Marathas feel cheated: Shahu Chhatrapati

Kolhapur: Congress MP Shahu Chhatrapati on Sunday, while stating that he supports Maratha activist Manoj Jarange’s protests, made a scathing remark over the latter ignoring the Kolhapur Gazetteer in the demands placed before the govt.

Jarange, who started the hunger strike on Friday over the pending demands pertaining to Maratha reservation, called off the protest on Saturday night.

According to Shahu Chhatrapati, the Gazetteer made during the Nizam rule in Marathwada and British rulers in other parts of the state have the Marathas recorded as Kunbis. Therefore, they are eligible for reservation under the OBC quota.

Shahu Chhatrapati said that Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj introduced reservation in his state for the first time in India and the reservation policy included the Marathas.

“There is more stress over the Hyderabad Gazetteer, less on Satara Gazetteer and none over Kolhapur Gazetteer. Maybe he comes from the place where Hyderabad's Nizam ruled. Therefore, the Gazetteer is close to him, Kolhapur is a far away place and therefore he must have forgotten,” said Shahu Chhatrapati.

The Congress MP further said that what transpires between Jarange and the govt every time he sits on strike is hard to know, and most importantly the demands he places and which govt agrees hardly comes into implementation.

“For the last eight years the agitations have been going on. The demands do not get implemented. Across the state Marathas believe they have been cheated. What actually happens between Jarange and govt is hard to get to know. However, we still support his agitation, we want all Marathas to come together for the cause of reservation,” Shahu Chhatrapati said.

According to legal expert Baba Indulkar, the British published the Kolhapur Gazetteer in 1881 according to which the population of Kolhapur district was around 8 lakh. “The Gazetteer had 3 lakh individuals registered as Kunbis and the rest as Marathas. In the 1911 Census, all the Kunbis were recorded as Marathas as there is no mention of the Kunbis thereafter,” said Indulkar.