As the 50-day period sought by the Maharashtra government to look into the reservation demand ends on November 17, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Dhangar face and Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Gopichand Padalkar has sent a reminder to CM Eknath Shinde.
Dhangars have been demanding reservation in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. There are approximately 2.5-3 crore Dhangars in Maharashtra. In a meeting of Dhangar leaders a few months ago, Shinde had sought 50 days to come up with a solution.
In his letter to Shinde, Padalkar has expressed his displeasure, stating that “not a single file related to the Dhangar reservation has been moved in the past 50 days”. “You are the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, all castes should be the same for you, but it seems you are making an effort to give reservation to only one particular caste and completely ignoring the demand of the Dhangar community. Efforts should also be made to resolve this issue immediately or else the government will have to face a democratic protest from the community,” Padalkar wrote.
In the last meeting, the BJP leader had put forth seven demands on behalf of the community, which included appointment of senior counsel Kumbhakoni to fight the case for Dhangar reservation in the Bombay high court, effective implementation of welfare schemes floated for the community, stopping of attacks on the community with strict laws and changing the name of Ahmednagar to Ahilya Nagar.
From the past one year, Padalkar is leading the fight, with rallies across the state to spread the awareness on ‘Dhangar’ reservation. Padalkar claims that although the Constitution has given reservation to the Dhangar community in ‘Schedule Tribes’, all governments have failed to implement it. Recently, Maharashtra witnessed aggressive protests over the demand.
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