Jarange Defies Ban, Leaves For Mumbai Protest

Undeterred by the police's denial of permission to stage a protest in Mumbai, fasting Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange left for the Maharashtra capital on Tuesday morning from Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district.

Mumbai Police earlier denied permission to Jarange, who has been on a hunger strike for the last 17 days demanding OBC quota for Maratha community members with Kunbi caste genealogies, to take the protest to Azad Maidan, citing law and order concerns during the ongoing Ganesh festival.

Though defiant, Jarange tweaked his earlier plan to mobilise Maratha community



members from various parts of Maharashtra to Mumbai and decided to go with a select group of 5-10 associates amid tight security.

Frail and slumped in the front seat of a car, Jarange, dressed in his trademark white shirt and trouser, cited the Bombay High Court's ruling which had refused to restrain him from staging a protest in Mumbai.

''Nothing is more important for me than my community. I will die for my community or get a reservation for them. The court has said that if anyone is agitating democratically, it cannot be stopped. The judiciary is with us," he told reporters.