Thane, Nov 5 (PTI) The Maharashtra government is trying to provide reservation in jobs and education to Marathas at the cost of the quota for Other Backward Classes but the move won't be tolerated by the OBCs, said former MP Haribhau Rathod on Sunday.

Following protests spearheaded by activist Manoj Jarange, the Eknath Shinde government is working towards giving Kunbi certificates to Marathas, said Rathod, an OBC leader, at a news conference here.

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One of the demands of Jarange is that Marathas be given Kunbi caste certificates. The agrarian Kunbi community already gets quota benefits in the OBC category.

“This means there will be gross injustice to the OBCs,” he said, adding that they will not tolerate if the government starts providing Kumbi certificates to crores of Marathas.

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OBCs will take to the streets, he said.

The former Lok Sabha member said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has stressed that the reservation to the OBCs would not be disturbed.

“Chief Minister Eknath Shinde says that while giving quota to Marathas, there will be no injustice to other communities. But in the assurance given to Jarange Patil and as per the GR on Kunbi-Marathas, crores of Marathas will be given Kunbi certificates,” he claimed.

This will eat into the quota already provided under the OBC category.

Rathod said the government is now searching for proof to give quota to Marathas but is not making similar efforts to provide reservations to Pardhis and the Banjara community.

Rathod, a prominent Banjara leader, said their community should be included in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)