Maratha reservation: Dipke meets Jarange-Patil, seeks end to fast
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Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke, centre, with Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil, left, during a meeting regarding the ongoing Maratha reservation agitation, at Antarwali Sarati, in Jalna district, Maharashtra, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. | Photo Credit: PTI
Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, met Manoj Jarange-Patil at Antarwali Sarati on September 11, 2026, and asked him to end the fast. Mr. Jarange-Patil has been on a hunger strike for reservation for the Maratha community. The meeting took place on day 14 of the strike.
In a post on X on September 11, 2026, Mr. Dipke wrote that he met Mr. Jarange-Patil, who has been on a hunger strike for 14 days, and inquired about his health. He wrote that Maharashtra needs Mr. Jarange-Patil. He requested that Mr. Jarange-Patil call off the fast and take care of his health.
Mr. Dipke said that Mr. Jarange-Patil is not on a hunger strike for himself. He said Mr. Jarange-Patil is on a hunger strike for society. He said the strike is for children of the Maratha community to get education and employment. He said if the government had given education and employment to children, there would not have been a need for a hunger strike. He said this is a failure of the government. He said the government was elected to do work for people. He said the government did not do that work. He said the government left people in the lurch.
Mr. Dipke said he went to the house of Prathamesh Deshmukh on September 10, 2026, who killed himself over a loan of βΉ2.5 lakh. He said Mr. Jarange-Patil is on a hunger strike so that people do not have to die, so that they get education, and so that they get employment.
Mr. Dipke asked why the government does not come to Antarwali Sarati and talk to Mr. Jarange-Patil. He asked what the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Ministers are doing. Mr. Dipke said the Ministers send their own children abroad to study while lamenting the dismal state of educational infrastructure in villages. He requested Mr. Jarange-Patil to call off the hunger strike.
In the post on X, Mr. Dipke wrote that if the government had provided education and employment opportunities to youth in villages, Mr. Jarange-Patil would not have gone on a hunger strike. He wrote that the hunger strike shows that people no longer have faith in the government.
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