- By Shubham Bajpai
- Sat, 30 Aug 2025 05:51 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Maratha quota politics has got a fresh fervor with the latest protest by Manoj Jarange. On Friday, Janage launched another indefinite hunger strike at Mumbai's Azad Maidan.
This is his seventh such protest since 2023, and Jarange has called it the "final fight" of the community for the reservation. The call of the protest was received well across Maharashtra as thousands gathered at the Aza Maidan on the first day.
The Mumbai Traffic Police had to issue a detailed advisory given the protest. His previous protests have forced the ruling parties to engage in a dialogue with him because of the political significance the issue holds.
The Maratha community constitutes around 30 per cent of the state population. In white clothes and sporting a saffron scarf, Jarange's aggressive posture, challenge to political heavyweights and political influence of the Maratha community have made parties wary of him.
Who is Manoj Jarange?
Jarange was born in a humble Maratha family in Matori village of Maharashtra's Beed district. Jarange completed his schooling in his village and then moved to Shahgad in the Ambad subdivision of Jalna district.
There he worked at a hotel and later in a sugar factory. According to the people who know him, he started his political career in Congress, but the stint was short, and he turned to activism.
He became the district president of the Youth Congress in 2000. "While working for the Congress party, he became the district president of the Youth Congress around 2000. However, due to the ideological differences over some political issues, he left the Congress and started working for a Maratha community organisation," said Prof Chandrakant Bharat, co-ordinator of the Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM), one of the outfits that has been agitating for quota to the community.
In 2005, he left Matori for Shahgad but his parents and brothers remained in the native village. In 2011, he founded his own outfit named ShivbaSanghatana. His activism centred around the issues of farmers and the Maratha community.
In 2016, he was actively involved in the pro-Maratha quota marches and took community members from Marathwada in central Maharashtra to Mumbai to put forward their demands before the then-BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis.
His first protest for the reservation on August 29, 2023, in his AntarwaliSarati village in Jalna district, largely went unnoticed. But the violence broke out on the third day of protest on September 1, which brought him and his agitation to the limelight.
The violence started after the local administration tried to admit him to a hospital. As the protestors opposed the administration, the police resorted to lathi-charge and tear gas shelling.
40 police personnel and several others were injured in the violence, and over 15 state transport buses were set ablaze.
"Jaranage played a key role in getting compensation from the government for the families of those who lost their lives during the Maratha reservation agitation earlier", Rajendra Kale, a journalist based in Matori, told news agency PTI