Who is Manoj Jarange? Read what lies behind the activist who is fighting for Maratha quota cause

43-year-old Manoj Jarange comes from a humble farming background in a Maharashtra village. From working in a hotel and a sugar factory before becoming the face of the Maratha reservation agitation, he has come a long way.

Jarange has recently been the talk of the town since he began his yet another round of indefinite fast on Friday - his seventh since 2023. This protest is touted as the community's final fight to get reservation. A large number of Marathas gathered at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, the venue of the protest, to show solidarity for the activist, whom they virtually revere as a hero.



He hails from a small village in Beed district of central Maharashtra - Matori. Completing his school education in the village, he moved to Shahgad in Ambad tehsil of Jalna district, where he worked in a hotel, Rajendra Kale, a journalist based in Matori, told PTI earlier.

In the subsequent years, Jarange got a job in a sugar factory at Ambad from where he joined politics, he told PTI, adding that Jarange's wife and children live in Shahgad.

The activisit has 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, Kale said.

"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," Prof Chandrakant Bharat, co-ordinator of the Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM) told PTI. He is one of the outfits that has been agitating for quota to the community, PTI reported.

Around 2011, Jarange formed an organisation named 'Shivba Sanghatana', he said.

Jarange's agitations are not limited to the Maratha quota issue alone. He also took up issues related to farmers. In 2013, he launched an agitation for the demand to release water from the Jayakwadi dam for the cultivators in Jalna, Bharat told PTI.

"He was actively involved in the pro-Maratha quota marches that were taken out in 2016 across the state 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," the MKM functionary told PTI.

Jarange's agitation in Sashti Pimpalgaon of Jalna district lasted for nearly 90 days, Bharat told PTI.

Anil Maharaj Jarange, a relative of Manoj Jarange, told the news agency that the activist left Matori village around 2005.

His father Raosaheb and mother Prabhabai still reside in Matori. His elder brothers Jagannath and Kakasaheb also live there and do farming, he said in a conversation with PTI.

"Manoj Jarange purchased some land near Shahgad but his family always had an average income. He also encouraged others to work for the community," the relative said.

Jarange has been demanding a 10% quota for Marathas under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. He wants all Marathas to be recognised as Kunbis - an agrarian caste included in the OBC category - which will make them eligible for reservation in government jobs and education.

Previously, Jarange's fight for the Maratha cause has forced the government and the ruling parties to take note of his demands and send their representatives for talks due to fear of facing a backlash.

One would always see this lanky activisit in white clothes and sporting a saffron scarf. Hisaggressive posture and challenge to political heavyweights have made parties wary of him.

People familiar with Jarange told PTI that he was a Congress activist for a brief period before quitting active politics and launching agitations for farmers and the Marathas, which is a politically influential community that constitutes around 30% of Maharashtra's population.

People rarely knew the name 'Manoj Jarange' till two years ago. His 2023 protest of an indefinite hunger strike to demand quota for Marathas in his Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district starting August 29, went largely unnoticed.

The picture flipped when violence broke out on September 1, three days since the protest began. The local authorities forcibly tried to admit Jarange to a hospital.

The following chain of events threw up a huge challenge before the then 14-month-old Eknath Shinde-led government. The Opposition sought the resignation of the then Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, against the police action against Jarange's supporters and pro-Maratha quota protesters.

The police baton-charged and lobbed tear gas shells on protesters to disperse them as they refused to let authorities shift Jarange to a hospital. During the police action, several people, including 40 police personnel, were injured and more than 15 state transport buses were set ablaze in the violence.

This protest and the subsequent police action brought attention and fame for Jarange, as he started becoming a prominent activist. The move forced the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP government to once again start talking about reservation for Marathas in education and jobs, an emotive issue which is now caught in a legal tangle.

(With inputs from PTI)