Analysis | Behind Maratha quota issue resolution, a climbdown by both the Mahayuti government and the activist

Behind the resolution of the Maratha agitation which had crippled Mumbai for five days was a climbdown by both the Mahayuti government as well as the agitators. The State government on Tuesday (September 2, 2025) issued a government resolution and a notification accepting six of the eight demands made by Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, successfully resolving the deadlock.

As Mr. Jarange-Patil claimed victory and broke his fast, he also ended a two-year feud. “Devendra Fadnavis Saaheb, you should come here. Our enmity is over,” he said, as Maharashtra Minister Radhakrisha Vikhe Patil looked on and later announced that the Chief Minister was the architect of the resolution.

“Though I faced severe criticism, I had only one goal in mind. That the Maratha community should be given justice, and that no two communities should be pitted against each other,” Mr. Fadnavis said. The OBCs had threatened a similar mass agitation if the Marathas were given reservation from the OBC quota.

Over the last few days, the Cabinet subcommittee on Maratha reservation held four meetings. Drafts for the orders were kept ready but the government maintained that it was firm on finding a constitutional solution to the deadlock. One of the key demands made by the quota activist in his memorandum of demands was to declare Marathas as Kunbis without any exception.

“The first breakthrough came on Sunday, August 31, when Manoj Jarange-Patil, for the first time, publicly decided to concede this important demand. The government had always maintained that it was not possible to declare Marathas as Kunbis without an exception. There was no point in holding any discussions if this demand was the first one,” a senior government official told The Hindu.

Three judgments

The official said the Cabinet subcommittee had discussed the three judgments of the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court that had refused to address all the Marathas as Kunbis.

As per government sources, references to these judgments were given to the Maratha activist — the October 17, 2003 judgment of the Bombay High Court in Jagannath D. Hole by the Division Bench of Justices B.H. Marlapalle and A.S. Bagga; the Supreme Court judgment of April 15, 2005, in the appeal against the Bombay High Court verdict; and the Bombay High Court judgment of October 6, 2002 by the Division Bench of Justice Marlapalle and Justice N.V. Dabholkar in the Suhas Dashrathe case.

In this 2002 judgment, the High Court had observed, “If these contentions are accepted, every person belonging to the ‘Maratha’ caste has to be issued a certificate that he belongs to ‘Kunbi’ caste, and this would be against the stark social realities of Maharashtra State.”

Government sources said that after these judgments were brought to the notice of Mr. Jarange-Patil, he let go of the demand for terming all Marathas as Kunbis. The government thereafter held discussions on the implementation of the Hyderabad gazetteer and the Satara gazetteer.

Mr. Jarange-Patil had also demanded that the criminal cases against Maratha agitators should be withdrawn and monetary compensation or jobs should be granted to the families of the deceased members. Sources claimed that a separate notification was issued for the same.