Overview

• Manoj Jarange Patil launched an open-ended hunger strike in Mumbai, pledging to stay at Azad Maidan until the Maratha community’s demands are accepted.
• The core demand seeks recognition of all Marathas as Kunbis so they qualify for OBC reservations in education and government jobs.
• Mumbai Police granted one-day permission from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a 5,000-person limit and deployed over 1,500 personnel backed by CRPF, RAF, CISF and MSF units.
• Authorities expected turnout near 40,000 as crowds clogged areas around CSMT and South Mumbai, with closures on the Eastern Freeway, Sion–Panvel Highway and other arterial roads disrupting buses and access to suburban rail hubs.
• State minister Radhakrishnan Vikhe-Patil said a cabinet sub-committee is ready to meet Jarange for talks, even as new protest rules and past court directions constrain the agitation’s timing and size.