The true ‘SARATHI’ beyond Credit and Discredit

 

The agitation in Mumbai for reservation for the Maratha community on the basis of the Hyderabad Gazetteer has been successfully concluded. Before and after this agitation, there has constantly been a competition to express one’s views on various issues related to reservation on various platforms including social media.

And the focus of the events and developments that took place in the last 11 years with respect to this issue has shifted to only one person, Devendra Fadnavis. In the reactions expressed in connection with reservation, Devendra Fadnavis had to bear the brunt and be the recipient of unnecessary curses in the initial period and this time around too.

In 2014, when Prithviraj Chavan was the Chief Minister, the Congress-NCP alliance government announced the decision to provide reservation to the Maratha community. The result of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections led to this decision. Between 1999 and 2014, the Maratha community had demanded reservation many times.

However, the Congress-NCP alliance government in power at that time ignored this demand. After the Bharatiya Janata Party-led grand alliance won 42 out of 48 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-NCP leadership woke up with a jolt. As a result, the decision to grant Maratha reservation was taken in a hurry. The reservation was announced without completing the legal and technical process required for granting reservation. As a result, the reservation was cancelled by the court.

Despite being in power in the state for 15 consecutive years and at the Centre for 10 consecutive years, the Congress-NCP alliance failed to show the will to resolve the issue of reservation for the Maratha community. In 2016, marches started taking place across the state to protest against atrocities on a young girl in Kopardi (Ahilyanagar district).

Through these protests, the demand for reservation came forward anew but strongly. Since then, Devendra Fadnavis was made the focal point of this issue. It was a testing time for Devendraji. Fadnavis repelled all the weapons fired by the opposition on the issue of reservation with great patience. Along with him, his family was also attacked with abusive language.

Fadnavis gave a befitting reply to all the allegations and attacks on him by giving 16 percent reservation to the Maratha community in 2018. While giving this reservation, Fadnavis had carefully followed the necessary legal and technical procedures. Therefore, even though this reservation was challenged, it was upheld in the High Court. And Mr. Fadnavis’s determination had easily overcome the first hurdle in the reservation.

In the meanwhile, until the decision on reservation was taken, Mr. Fadnavis got to the root of the problems of the Maratha community by learning about their pain and suffering. Recognizing that a large section of the Maratha community is deprived of educational facilities due to its economic condition, Mr. Fadnavis decided to establish the SARATHI Mahamandal on the lines of ‘BARTI’.

Through this corporation, Sarathi National Scholarship, Maharani Tararani Competitive Examination, Skill Development Training, Indo-German Tool Room Training, Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj Scholarship Scheme, Sayajirao Gaekwad Foreign Education Scholarship Scheme, Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Educational Fee Reimbursement Scheme were started.

Along with this, the Annasaheb Patil Economic Development Corporation was re-established with the broad objective of creating employment generating entrepreneurs in the Maratha society. During the Congress-NCP alliance government, this corporation remained inactive and existed on paper only as no funds were provided to this corporation.

In the 1980s, the responsibility of this corporation was entrusted to Narendra Patil, the son of Annasaheb Patil, who started the fight for Maratha reservation. The provision of the necessary funds to this corporation has paved the way for the youth of the Maratha community to get loans for industry and business.

The number of Maratha entrepreneurs who have received loans through this corporation has now reached the mark of one and a half lakh. The interest on the loans of the Maratha youth who take loans for industry and business is reimbursed by this corporation. This corporation has reimbursed loans of up to Rs 1 thousand crore in the last 7-8 years.

Shri Fadnavis has ensured that this corporation receives the required and necessary funds quickly. Through SARATHI, financial assistance is provided to Maratha students appearing for the competitive examinations of the Union Public Service Commission and the Maharashtra Public Service Commission. So far, 12 IAS, 18 IPS and 8 IRS officers have emerged from the Maratha community by benefiting from this scheme. 304 candidates have passed the Maharashtra Public Service Commission examination.

Shri Fadnavis created a corporation like SARATHI because he knew that reservation alone would not solve the problems faced by the Maratha community. The opponents who targeted Shri Fadnavis on the issue of reservation did not even take note of the decisions taken for the overall upliftment of the Maratha community through SARATHI and Annasaheb Patil Corporation. Even key leaders of the Congress-NCP never demonstrated any regret in their failure of taking such decisions during their 15 consecutive years in power.

For the last 9-10 years, Devendra Fadnavis, has gulped down all the vicious comments and has continued to strive with all his might for the progress of the Maratha community. It is surprising that people like Uddhav Thackeray, who destroyed the reservation of the Maratha community due to their incompetence, remain blameless in the whirlwind of this movement. When Mr. Fadnavis was the Chief Minister, the Maratha reservation was upheld in the first hearing in the Supreme Court. During the subsequent hearings, Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister.

Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, who made him the Chief Minister, did not want this reservation to be upheld. Therefore, despite having a senior lawyer like Mukul Rohatgi in the Supreme Court, the Thackeray government at that time could not uphold this reservation. Rohatgi had said with frustration that the documents required for his argument were never provided to him on time. Fadnavis is the target in every agitation on the issue of reservation.

And yet Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, who are the established destroyers of this reservation, continue to shine brightly and show support to the agitation. Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are never held accountable for their actions. However, a leader like Fadnavis, who gives reservation, upholds it in the court, and brings various schemes like SARATHI, becomes the target of vicious criticism. In spite of this, Maharashtra has witnessed this man’s determination and focus in not deviating from his goal.

 

(Article Pre-Published in Times of India Online – 08 September, 2025) 

Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson